Agenda and draft minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Mark Anderson (Primary Academies), Marilyn Bell (Governor, The Fenland Federation), David Bennett (Governor, Queens Elizabeth's Grammar School, Horncastle), Julia Merivale (Trinity Day Nursery, Gainsborough), Joanne Noble (Head Teacher, Gainsborough Nursery School), Caroline Saxelby (Head Teacher, Walton Girls' High School and Sixth Form, Grantham), Martin Shelton (Linkage Community Trust), Anthony Stevens (Governor, The Holt Primary School, Skellingthorpe), James Storr (Governor, The Deepings School, Deeping St James) and Mark Woods (Chief Executive Officer, Stamford Welland Academy).

No declarations of member's interest were declared at this stage of the proceedings.

(To receive a report from Mark Popplewell, Head of Finance, Children's Services, which asks for the Forum to consider the Local Authority's funding formula proposals for 2018/19 and direction of travel following the government's implementation of a national funding formula for schools in 2018/19 and 2019/20)

Consideration was given to a report from Mark Popplewell, Head of Finance, Children's Services, which asked the Forum to consider the Local Authority's funding formula proposals for 2018/19; and direction of travel following the government's implementation of a national funding formula for schools for 2018/19 and 2019/20.

In guiding the Forum through the report the Head of Finance, Children's Services made reference to:-

·         The background behind the implementation of the national funding formula;

·         The Local Authority schools block funding – The Forum was advised that through the national funding formula the government's plan was to implement a fairer settlement for each school.  It was noted that the government was planning to transition to the national funding formula through a 'soft ' approach in 2018/19 and 2019/20; whereby Local Authorities would continue to be responsible for calculating schools' funding allocations.  It was noted further that Local Authorities were encouraged to move towards the national funding formula so that schools' allocations were on a sensible trajectory towards the move to a 'hard' national funding formula for 2020/21. 

Table one on page six of the report outlined Lincolnshire's schools overall funding level for 2018/19 through the implementation of the national funding formula compared to other Local Authorities.  It was reported that Lincolnshire continued to remain in the lowest quartile for school funding levels with primary schools overall being the 33^rd lowest funded; and secondary schools being the 37^th lowest out of 150 Local Authorities.  The Forum noted that the implementation of the national funding formula was forecasted to bring in more monies in to Lincolnshire schools by an overall increase of 3.7% in 2018/19; and a 6.6% increase overall in 2019/20 from the current 2017/18 schools baseline, which was a positive picture;

·         The proposed Lincolnshire's schools funding for 2018/19 and direction of travel – The Forum was advised that detailed modelling had been undertaken by the Local Authority to understand the government's proposed national funding formula.  The Local Authority had consulted with mainstream schools including academies on the proposal to replicate the national funding formula in 2018/19, ensuring that schools' allocations were on a sensible trajectory towards the move to the 'hard' formula from 2020/21.  A copy of the consultation document was detailed at Appendix A to the report.  Tables two and three on page 8 of the report provided indicative information relating to the monetary gains planned in 2018/19 at school level for primary and secondary schools using 2017/18 census information through the implementation of the national funding formula;

·         Schools Consultation – The Forum noted that the response rate to the consultation had been disappointing (9% of primary schools and 20% of secondary schools), which might have been caused by the tight timescales placed on the Local Authority due to the government's late announcement and releasing of data.  It was noted that the Schools' Forum had an important role in considering school funding arrangements on behalf of all schools.  The Forum considered the eleven question covering eight subject areas that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 31.