THE unfair system for funding schools is “utterly ludicrous” according to Chippenham MP Michelle Donelan as she bids to secure more money for Wiltshire schools.

The Chippenham MP continued her campaign yesterday (Nov 6) in Westminster Hall in the hope that changes will be announced by chancellor George Osborne in his Autumn Spending review.

Miss Donelan once again pressed the case for schools in Wiltshire to receive more per pupil funding which would simultaneously see better-funded schools lose funding.

The Conservative MP is optimistic of an official announcement, on what was one of her party’s main manifesto points, in the spending review on November 25.

Miss Donelan said: “I understand how difficult it is to rectify the hugely complicated school funding formula, but it is imperative that we make the changes.

“No wonder it is a key local issue in Wiltshire, as well as everywhere else, it appears.

“I will not beat about the bush: I think that the current spending formula is utterly ludicrous and absolutely unfair.

“Why should children born in my constituency have less money spent on their education than those living down the road in Bristol, for instance?”

Miss Donelan, whose sister is a teacher, believes that Wiltshire schools receive £4,300 per pupil compared to the country’s average of £6,500.

She expects that every secondary school in the Chippenham constituency could receive between £2m and £3.7m extra every school year under a new system.

Under the current system, she believes Wiltshire schools are losing out by more than £35m compared to the best-funded schools in the UK.

“That is a colossal amount, and it is a colossal injustice to hard-working children,” she added.

“We cannot sit back and let it continue. We need a new national per-pupil funding formula, rather than the arbitrary and complicated system that we currently have.

“They are all funded by the taxpayer, but it is a postcode lottery that takes no account of children’s needs or their numbers.”

Chippenham secondary school head teachers, Jan Hatherall at Hardenhuish and Neil Spurdell at Sheldon, have already voiced their support for the campaign.