WEST Devon Borough Council has agreed to write to the education secretary to address the ‘unfair’ funding arrangements for Devon schools, after the recent changes to the funding formula which would see schools in West Devon being worse off.

At a meeting of the full council last week, Cllr Robin Musgrave asked members to consider a motion to write to the secretary of state, Justine Greening MP, to implement a ‘new and fairer funding’ formula.

The new funding formula was announced in December and was designed to stop inequalities that see schools in different parts of the country, with similar intakes, receive different levels of per-pupil budget. There will be extra funding for ‘sparsity’, such as rural areas and small schools, places with a high level of mobility in its school population and funding where there are sharp increases in pupil numbers. However, the formula could lead to larger rural schools in West Devon, such as Okehampton College and Tavistock College, actually losing out.

Cllr Musgrave said he had had correspondence from Tavistock College with concerns about the budget challenges facing the colleges and that the changes would have an adverse impact on schools in Devon, particularly in West Devon.

Cllr Musgrave presented his motion to the council, which said: ‘This council urges the Secretary of State for Education to urgently address the unfair funding arrangements of Devon schools and to implement a “new and fairer national funding formula” as promised in the chancellor’s 2015 Autumn Spending Review.

‘The proposals for the latest national funding settlement provide a worsening situation for our schools and colleges in West Devon.

‘This is particularly affected by rising expenditure demands, noticeably staffing costs, arising from the latest national policy decisions.

‘The council calls on the Secretary of State to address the current allocation of education funding to provide a fairer national allocation and to recognise the general inadequacy of funding of our local schools.’

Cllr James McInnes, who is also Devon County Council’s cabinet member for children, schools and skills, welcomed the motion, but wanted to make a slight amendment to include: ‘The council also asks the Schools Minister to look again at the fairer funding proposals.’

He said: ‘A third of the schools in Devon are going to lose money, when no schools in Devon should lose any money under this formula. It is a serious situation.

‘Schools are facing pressure from many angles and it seems to be mounting up to a perfect storm. We have to be united in doing something about it.’

Cllr Robert Sampson said: ‘I support the motion. I think this situation highlights the way in which Devon — and West Devon in particular — is often at the back of the queue for government funding. I hope we will get a satisfactory response from the secretary of state.’

Councillors voted to implement the motion.