They began the meeting by pointing out to the Minister that a Shropshire child receives £3,551 out of general taxation, £337 less per pupil than the English average. If Shropshire received the funding of an average local authority there would be £13.23million more to spend on Shropshire's children. If Shropshire received the same as Ealing, which has an almost identical number of children, it would get £42.5million extra.

Review

The Minister told them that the current formula is set for three years.

He acknowledged that there is a problem and confirmed that they are
starting a review of the formula, beginning in April, with a view to a new formula for 2011. He agreed that they could participate in this process particularly in looking at sparsity costs and rural deprivation.

Owen made it absolutely clear that closing schools was definitively dead as an option. Shropshire gets well above average results with significantly less funding and the excellence that is achieved is a direct result of parental choice and therefore the competition generated by empty places.

He stressed to the Minister that these schools are not just primary schools but are facilities for the whole community and are an important local resource. Village schools host out-of-hours activities for local people, including breakfast clubs, computer clubs and a host of other community activities.

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