A SOUTH Cumbria headteacher says the government is failing to fund schools properly "to the detriment of the vast majority of children".

Cumbria schools face cuts of £23m by 2020 – and potentially losing 625 teachers to make savings – under proposed school budgets.

Schools nationwide and teaching unions are calling for increased investment to ensure that funding in all schools increases substantially.

Cartmel CE Priory School has been estimated to see a minus £209,427 budget change by 2019. Dr Paul Williams, the headteacher of Cartmel CE Priory School, said: "We are extremely concerned regarding the proposed reduction to our school budget and that of the other secondary schools in Cumbria, with most in Cumbria predicted significant budget cuts.

"The Department for Education is failing to fund the main school system properly to the detriment of the vast majority of children. The proposed reductions in funding will significantly affect all our schools abilities to do the best for our students.

"Schools are already paying increased costs for National Insurance, pensions and wages. Cuts to social care and all sources of government funded youth support mean that schools are expected to deal with an increasing number of complex mental health and emotional issues without any resources.

"High needs children, those with an Education, Health and Care Plan or a statement, are not being funded fully by central government and schools are also expected to pick up much of the additional costs for their education from their main school budget. These things simply cannot continue to be funded from a shrinking budget, meaning the most vulnerable children will be those who are put at risk most by these changes."

The NASUWT, the largest teachers’ union in the UK is arguing that funding provided to schools up to 2019/20 must increase by more than that set out in government policy and to "offset real terms funding losses over the period since 2010."

A Department for Education spokesman said: "The government has protected the core schools budget in real terms since 2010, with school funding at its highest level on record at more than £40bn in 2016-17 – and that is set to rise, as pupil numbers rise over the next two years, to £42bn by 2019-20. But the system for distributing that funding across the country is unfair, opaque and outdated."