A NORTH-EAST headteacher has said they are "petrified" about the state of school funding as the Government was yesterday urged to listen to the "alarm bells".
North-East MPs took part in a parliament debate which was tabled to discuss the issues staff and pupils were facing due to the funding shortage.
The debate followed a Northern Echo investigation which discovered schools across the region are facing an “unprecedented” crisis, with headteachers across the North-East and North Yorkshire warning standards are dropping below an acceptable level and cuts are having a “significant impact” on children.
Dr Paul Williams, Stockton South MP, said he had surveyed all headteachers in his constituency and everyone who had responded had experienced a real terms cut to their budgets.
They also all said they were "pessimistic" about the prospects of their funding over the next three years, admitting they had asked parents to pay for a number of school-related items in the last 12 months, including IT equipment, text books and art materials.
One of the teacher's surveyed said: "This can not go on - I am petrified about what is to come. I came into this profession to change and shape the lives of all children, especially the most vulnerable, but I am not being allowed to do this.
"Instead me and my staff are expected to work ridiculous hours and face the prospect of redundancies because there is no money available.
"How can we possibly provide the broad and balance curriculum and ensure all children meet standards when funding the basics are becoming impossible."
Dr Williams said: “We’ve now had nine years of deep cuts to schools in our area.
“Teachers do a fantastic job, but they’re telling me that they don’t have anywhere near the resources they need.
“As parents, when we see the effect this is having on our children’s education, we know that it surely can’t carry on.
"I’ll carry on doing all I can to take on their Government’s shocking record on education because our kids surely deserve the best schools in the world.”
Speaking during the debate in Parliament this afternoon, Sedgefield MP Phil Wilson said: "The overtures I hear from the schools in the North East and in Sedgefield is one of ringing alarm bells - budgets being cut, teaching staff made redundant, and parents fundraising for the essentials.
"In County Durham,194 schools out 243 face cuts to their finances. The authority’s schools will lose £8.1m by 2020.
"The Minister may say that funding has increased and everything in the garden is rosy, but if parents are having to fundraise for essentials then the Minister’s assertion is not adequate."
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