Footing the bill

Council leader Kevin Small today issued the warning that council tax could go up by 15 per cent after it was revealed that Swindon could get even less money from central Government for schools.

Swindon's education department is one of the worst funded in the country and the latest Government spending plans are set to cut the budget even further, despite lobbying from MPs, councillors and headteachers.

Coun Small (Lab, Western) said that education was the council's priority service this year and that council tax may go up to pay for it, but until he knew how much money the council would be given by the Government in its Standard Spending Assessment, it was impossible to predict the rise.

He said: "Because education is our priority service, any extra money we get will go to the education budget.

"But if we do not see the financial support we want, it may be addressed through council tax.

"Until we know our SSA in November it is too early to say how much it could go up by."

He said council tax could increase by as much as 10 or even 15 per cent but even that may not be enough.

Two-thirds of the council's funding comes from central government and only a third from the council tax, so a big rise of 15 per cent would only increase the council's budget by five per cent.

Under new Government spending plans, the town could lose £3m of its education budget.

Education secretary Estelle Morris' department drew up four spending options as part of a review of education funding.

But Swindon misses out in all four losing between £650,000 to £3m from its annual budget of £152m.

Swindon Council is one of the 40 lowest funded education authorities in the country.

The Government uses a complicated formula to work out school funding. Each local authority starts with the same basic level per child and then gets extra cash depending on the social and economic circumstances of the area. This is where a prosperous town such as Swindon loses out, despite having areas of severe poverty and exam results well below the national average.

That is why an option five, which parents are being urged to back, means a higher level of basic funding with less attributed to other factors.

South Swindon Labour MP Julia Drown has written a letter to parents asking for their support for the fifth option. She said: "We have to push to get the basic level of funding higher."

Michael Wills, MP for North Swindon said: "The SSA is calculated on measures of prosperity and no matter what reforms take place in that system Swindon is likely to lose out."

Department for education and skills spokeswoman, Nadia Nuaimi, said: "It is quite wrong to say that Swindon schools face a funding crisis.

"We can state categorically that pupils in Swindon will not lose out."

Council tax costs a band D house in Swindon £892 now, and a 15 per cent increase could raise it by £135 to £1,027.