(UK) N. Yorkshire special needs school faces $3.5M (US) cut; parent calls for legal action

Feb 13, 2019, Minster FM: Mum threatens legal action North Yorkshire special education cuts https://www.minsterfm.com/news/local/2805479/mum-threatens-legal-action-over-north-yorkshire-special-education-cuts/ Opponents of “scathing” cuts to North Yorkshire’s special education budget are threatening legal action against the county council, as part of a multi-pronged attempt to have the proposals cast aside. Law firm Simpson Millar will submit a notice before action letter on behalf of parent Amy Thompson, whose daughter Ellie attends Harrogate’s Grove Academy. The academy is one of the county’s five Pupil Referral Units (PRUs) which take in students with complex educational needs who cannot be taught in mainstream schools. The PRUs face a funding cut of £2.7m [$3.5M US dollars] as part of proposals by the county council to claw back an overspend of the “woefully underfunded” high needs budget. … “We, the undersigned, as headteachers and senior leaders within North Yorkshire, are seriously concerned by the severity of the cuts, the speed of change and the lack of clarity for arrangements post April 2019,” it states. … In his motion, Coun Webber is set to acknowledge that the council simply doesn’t receive enough Government funding to keep up with the demand for special needs education, but says that the cuts shouldn’t be made in the upcoming financial year. … Changes to the High Needs Budget are centred around a three-pronged approach proposed by NYCC to claw back an overspend of the county’s current £44m pot, which is “woefully underfunded” by the Government amid ballooning numbers of students requiring special education. “It does not meet our needs in North Yorkshire. It is woefully underfunded, it is £6m [$7.7M US dollars] overspent this year, so quite rightly, the schools forum and local authority are saying we need to be more efficient in the way we spend money,” director of children’s services at NYCC Stuart Charlton said last week. … The council says it will continue to pay its statutory funding at the ‘slightly reduced rate’ of £18,000 per pupil [$23,000 US], which it says will bring North Yorkshire’s PRS funding in line with the national average.