Schools to avoid cuts as Tories pledge more cash and plan to make private schools help state sector

NO school will face budget cuts after Theresa May performed a screeching u-turn, vowing to pump £4 billion into education.

In a raft of education measures for state schools, the Tories pledged to ban underperforming schools from expanding.

And a new wave of grammar schools would see talented pupils being allowed to join at a range of ages – as well as 11 – and specialist maths schools opened in every major city in England.

The Conservatives also underlined their commitment to ensuring all 11 year-olds know their times tables.

Their manifesto vowed to replace 13,000 existing technical qualifications with skilled “T-levels” in construction, engineering, manufacturing, health and science.

Mrs May’s shelving of the controversial revamp of the schools funding formula followed a rebellion by angry Tory backbenchers.

The manifesto said 1m pupils were still in substandard schools and for too many “a good school remains out of reach”.

It said: “The greatest injustice in Britain today is that your life is still largely determined not by your efforts and talents but by where you come from, who your parents are and what schools you attend.

“This is wrong. We want to make Britain the world’s great meritocracy: a country where everyone has a fair chance to go as far as their talent and their hard work will allow.”

In a bid to tackle staff shortages, teachers were also offered a “forgiveness” sweetener on paying back their student loans – as long as they stayed working in the classroom.

But economic experts at the respected IFS think tank warned last night the extra money would not mean funding per pupil keeps up with inflation.

Spokesman Luke Sibieta said the £4 billion extra in school spending “equates to a real-terms cut in spend per pupil of just under 3%” between 2017-18 and 2021-22.

Last night Labour’s Shadow Education Secretary Angela Rayner accused the Tories of taking away free school meals for infants “to plug the massive holes left by their cuts in school budgets”.

She said: “Their commitment of £4billion for schools announced today does not match Labour’s offer of £6.3 billion and will not address the inflationary pressures schools are facing.”

• TAX breaks for private schools are in jeopardy unless they support pupils in the state sector.
  The radical Tory plans for education announced by Theresa May would see headteachers of at least 100 leading independent schools pool resources and skills with state schools.
  Any refusal could put their privileged tax status under threat.

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