'Recipe for disaster': Parents oppose cuts to special educational needs schools budgets
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole schools face 'terrifying' budget cuts to claw back £63 million deficit
Last updated 24th Jan 2024
Parents and teachers have been protesting plans for BCP Council to join the government's controversial ‘Safety Valve’ scheme.
A demonstration was held last night outside Bournemouth Civic Centre annexe ahead of a council meeting.
The government scheme offers funding to local authorities who are overspending their SEND budgets but only if they agree to significantly reduce spending on Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND).
BCP Council is forecasting a £63.4 million deficit in its designated schools grant budget as a result of overspending its SEND budget.
But these “drastic” cost cutting measures were described by parents and teachers at yesterday’s protest as “a recipe for disaster.”
Rachel Filmer, a mother of two disabled children, said: “Some disabled children with the right support do wonderfully in mainstream schools but for children who need speech therapy or occupational therapy they struggle because it’s not available in mainstream schools.”
More than 2,000 people have signed a petition opposing school spending cuts.
Grandmother of three SEND pupils, Genie Francis told us: “If you're going to make cuts to school budgets and then put SEND students in mainstream schools, we've got massive problems!
“My granddaughter has just started attending a specialist school in September. She went into Yr6 working at a Yr1 level but they’ve and they've already got her working at Yr2/Yr3 level, she couldn't do that in a mainstream school with 30 children.”
According to the BCP Alliance for Children & Schools, BCP are “failing children with SEND” by limiting the number of statutory Education Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) issued and placing more disabled children in mainstream.
Rachel Filmer said: “SEND students already aren’t getting the support they need and I've spoken to parents where it's taken 10 years to get the right support for their child so if there are less and less children getting EHCPs or specialist education it will have a huge implications on the rest of their lives.”