***(UK) Nottinghamshire: $3.1M (US) taken from regular ed for SPED; "funding crisis" for schools

Feb 19, 2019, West Bridgford Wire: Over £11m shortfall in special needs education funding say council leaders https://westbridgfordwire.com/over-11m-shortfall-in-special-needs-education-funding-say-council-leaders/ Education for children with special needs in Nottinghamshire is in the midst of a funding crisis, leaders have said. Senior Conservative councillors from the county council have now pledged to ask the Government for more money, as leading Labour figures claim the situation is a ‘crisis’. Now, money has been taken from the mainstream education budget for schools outside the city to plug the higher needs gap, which is spent on children who require additional support. It means £2.4 million [$3.1M US dollars] which would have been spent on mainstream education will now go to fund higher needs education. This is the maximum account which can be transferred without approval from the secretary of state. An independent report commissioned by the council found there was an £11.6 million shortfall for this year and next. One headteacher, from a primary school in Ashfield, said the funding shortage was having an impact on all children in her school and claimed that ‘every headteacher has at least one child who should really be in a special school.’… Labour’s Shadow Education Minister, Angela Rayner, said the Notts funding shortfall was ‘punitive’. She said: “Because of the overall education budget being cut by eight percent, that’s having a disproportionate impact on the most vulnerable children. “With special educational needs those children need extra support in classrooms, but we know teaching assistants have been removed from schools, class sizes are up and support staff have disappeared. “Because the higher needs block has been cut as well in real terms, schools are having to push towards subsidising children with special education needs, when they’re already under massive pressure. … Councillor Philip Owen, who represents Nuthall and Kimberley for the Conservatives, said at a meeting on the subject last week: “The high needs budget is becoming increasingly difficult to contain. There are a variety of reasons for that, several of which are outside the control of this council, but nevertheless, that shortfall has got to be made up. … “I’m a big believer in inclusion, and keeping children in mainstream education, but there are always some children who it’s going to be better for them to be in a special school, and when that doesn’t happen it’s destructive. “If you speak to any headteacher in the county, you will find at least one child who needs to be in a special school.” One new special education school is currently being built in Newark, with another possibly in the pipeline in the Ashfield area…. “The number of parents of children with special needs who come to me because their schools can no longer provide the specialist care they require is increasing every week. … “In 2018-19, Nottinghamshire will receive £64 million in high needs funding, but we recognise there are pressures on high needs budgets due to increasing costs. “That’s why we announced an additional £250 million in funding for high needs across England over this financial year and the next….