No time for thrift!

With last Friday’s report that schools in England are holding onto £495m of unspent cash from 2009, I braced myself for a rush of registrations on the Education Show website. If schools do hold onto the money they face strict action from school’s minister Vernon Coaker, so I anticipate many educators deciding to descend on the NEC Birmingham at the start of March to see which services and resources best fit their needs and how to best spend their unspent pounds.

The figure of £495m is slightly misleading though. It’s far lower than in 2008, when there was something of a scandal at the amount that schools were sitting on. Also, schools are expected to hold a small reserve for unexpected costs. That said, if the reserve, amounts to more than 5% of the annual income for secondary schools and 8% for primary schools, it is considered excessive. The Government, and parents, want to see today’s children benefit from today’s funding and why not? Prices are lower than ever, there seem to be plenty of discounts and special offers around and innovation is at an all-time high; what better time to purchase educational resources?

Mr Coaker has said that if the surplus is as high in 2011, action will be taken. Some educators are upset by this, viewing it as Government interference in schools’ budgeting. This is familiar refrain for me; I’ve had similar complaints from Mrs Resourceful Rick on many occasions, albeit with different eventual aims. As I point out, in measured tones (I’m resourceful, you see. Not foolhardy) I don’t try to tell her what to spend the money on, just not to spend all of it. Keeping 5% for emergencies is sensible. Go too far and sensible becomes thrifty and children’s education is just too important for thrift.