Phoney School Freedom

Labour's "phoney" school freedom

Labour plans to grant schools greater financial autonomy have been dismissed as "phoney" by Shadow Education Secretary Tim Collins.He was commenting after Schools Minister Stephen Twigg announced that from April next year every school would be placed on a three-year budget, enabling head teachers more time to plan ahead and with more freedom to "run their own affairs." Mr Collins said: "

In their eight years in office, Labour have made school funding streams more complex than ever and have steadily taken autonomy away from heads. Now, as in so many areas, they want people to believe that in their third term they would behave entirely differently from how they have acted in their first two. No-one should fall for this."The party's education spokesman added: "Conservatives will also give schools three year budgets, but far greater and more genuine independence. Greater school freedom is more than just a book-keeping exercise."

Mr Collins explained that plans to allow more autonomy should be judged on three criteria: whether they give head teachers and governors complete control over their school's financial decision making - including capital spending; whether they allow heads to lay down minimum standards of pupil behaviour, including binding home/school contracts, plus the final say on admissions and exclusions; and whether head teachers are allowed to turn away children expelled from other schools.Insisting that Labour's proposals would result in a resounding 'no' on all fronts, he added: "This initiative, alongside so many others from this Labour government, will turn out to be just talk."