Commenting on the latest report from the IFS on school spending per pupil to rise by 9% in real terms, Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union, said:
"We agree with the IFS that the government should provide a long-term funding plan for schools. Unfortunately the government have consistently not provided sufficient resources. It is our members who have won any increases through pressure and the threat of strike action. But the struggle is not over.
We welcome the additional funding schools have received this year, which will save thousands of jobs.
High-needs costs keep outrunning forecasts. When you strip out money for special educational needs, the IFS finds core funding for mainstream schools falls by £1.2 billion in real terms by 2028–29.
Budgets keep needing top-ups because governments set them too low and assume inflation will fall to 2 per cent. It is 3.1 per cent. These top-ups to funding only came after NEU campaigns, ballots or strikes.
Falling rolls are a chance to cut the largest primary class sizes in Europe and give pupils more individual support.
The government has to decide what type of country it wishes us to be – a low-wage, low-skill, low-investment economy, or a high-investment, high-skill, high-productivity economy. Education spending was more than 5 per cent of national income in 2010. It is now 4.1 per cent. It must return to at least 5 per cent."