The plight of a Shrewsbury school found to be one of the worst-funded in the country has been raised at Westminster in a special debate involving the town’s MP.
Daniel Kawczynski told how Coleham Primary School was struggling to make ends meet because it received less funding than others of its size and type outside Shropshire.
School funding in the county was the focus of an adjournment debate opened by North Shropshire MP Owen Paterson in the House of Commons on Tuesday night.
Speaking afterwards, he revealed that he had secured a meeting with Minister of State for Schools and Learners Jim Knight, who will visit Shropshire in January to meet MPs and discuss the situation.
Shropshire County Council is due to discuss its controversial school reorganisation proposals tomorrow, Friday, which aim to tackle falling pupil numbers.
But Mr Paterson is calling for a delay in any decision by the county council over primary school closures until after the meeting with Mr Knight.
He said: “The debate was very successful. The minister confirmed they don’t want to shut rural schools and agreed to meet us. I’m now urging the county council to hold off any decisions on moving on with this until we talk to the minister. If they don’t they will scupper all we’re trying to do.”
During the debate on Tuesday, Mr Paterson said that Shropshire was the second lowest funded of all 34 England upper-tier authorities.
“If Shropshire received the funding of an average local authority, there would be £13.23 million more to spend on Shropshire’s children.
“I am not calling for a single penny more in taxation to be levied for education. Shropshire’s hard-working taxpayers are already taxed quite enough,” he said
The debate came a day after Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council’s cabinet agreed to write to the Government demanding fair funding for pupils and condemning the under-funding of schools in the county.