Campaign launches to stop Herefordshire children losing out in education funding lottery

3.14.00pm GMT Fri 1st Jan 2010

Lib Dem parliamentary candidate Lucy Hurds has launched the 'Hands up for Herefordshire' campaign to get fair funding for our schools.

Herefordshire is the third-lowest funded area of England for education and the gap between the 'haves' and the 'have nots' continues to widen.

Lucy Hurds is running the campaign to get better funding for all of Herefordshire's schools.

The education of children and young people in our county is being affected by the low level of funding schools receive from central government.

The Department for Children, Schools and Families is currently reviewing the way in which it calculates the education funding it provides to local authorities. Pricewaterhouse Coopers is reporting to the DCSF now, and will finish this process early next year. Now is the time to make sure they get it right. The Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) has caused huge inequality between local authorities across the country. Herefordshire receives £3,830.40 per pupil.. That's £387.31 less than the national average & £3,772.98 less than the City of London.

We think this is unfair. We want this to change.

'Hands Up for Herefordshire' is working to make government tackle the inequalities in funding for schools and end the post-code lottery that affects the young people of our county.

We are pressing for:

1. An increase in money for Herefordshire to bring our funding per pupil up to the national average.

2. Payment of interim funding which, so far, Herefordshire has missed out on though becoming more deprived as a county, due in part to the current recession

3. A 'rural sparsity factor' to be included in the revised funding formula. This would provide extra funding for rural areas where pupil transport costs are higher and where there are more schools than in inner city areas.

4. Recognition that our schools are important institutions which often provide facilities benefitting the whole community in which they are located.

Please show your support for this campaign using any of the following means:

• Call Lucy Hurds on 07827 011611

• Email Campaign@HandsUpForHerefordshire.org.uk

• Text HandsUp plus your message to 80010

• Join 'Hands up for Herefordshire' on Facebook

Also tell your friends how badly Herefordshire children are being short-changed and ask them to lend support too.