Commenting on the general election briefing on school funding by the IFS, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, Daniel Kebede, General Secretary of the National Education Union, said:
"There is now a broad consensus that our schools and colleges are at breaking point.
‘This report from the IFS sets out the damage done by 14 years of a failed Government that has shown a total lack of care for the impact their policies have had on the English education system.
‘The scale of this challenge to ensure children and young people get the education they deserve is immense. No sticking plaster solutions will work.
‘School funding is debilitatingly low and costs are rising rapidly. There is a crisis in the recruitment and retention of teachers. Teacher pay has fallen significantly below 2010 levels. Provision for children with special educational needs is not meeting demand. School buildings have been left to fall into disrepair.
‘Education must be a top priority in this election.
‘We are calling on all major political parties to recognise the scale of the problem, through our school cuts campaign, and commit in this General Election to reversing the decline. A whole generation of children and young people have been failed. It cannot go on.
‘An incoming government must commit to investing in education and in our children."