'DEVASTATING': Leaders claim Oxfordshire schools are owed £143m as parents asked to plug funding gaps

David Wybron said schools have been left in a 'cloud of financial uncertainty', as the Government has not confirmed if it will fund expected pay rises for classroom staff.

The headteacher of 2,069-pupil Lord Williams's School in Thame predicts his academy could have £500,000 less in its budget by next year, despite a much-hyped new school funding formula.

Mr Wybron said: "The 2018/19 year is very worrying.

"If the Government doesn't fully fund pay awards, any gains from the new formula will be wiped out completely."

His concerns coincide with a letter penned by headteachers to chancellor Philip Hammond, claiming Oxfordshire schools are owed nearly £143m.

The letter highlights a 'chronic lack of funding' for the county's educators and states parents are increasingly being asked to 'prop up beleaguered budgets'.

In September Lord Williams's launched an appeal asking parents to help replenish cash, warning its reserves were under huge pressure due to urgent heating repairs costing £600,000.

Mr Wybron said: "It's a big dent to the budget.

"At the moment we are okay, but it wouldn't take much to have a devastating impact. We don't have any wriggle room.

"There was a certain unease about asking parents for support, but I couldn't see any way around it."

He cited increasing National Insurance and pension contributions as key additional costs.

Unions are currently consulting on a pay rise for school support staff, proposed by the National Joint Council which sets wages for teaching assistants, librarians and lab technicians in some schools.

But teachers could also be set for a pay rise, after the Government lifted its one per cent pay rise cap for other public sector workers.

In England and Wales, headteachers can chose how much to pay teachers within Government guidelines.

This academic year, the 'main pay range' for qualified teachers outside London is £22,917 - £33,824.

Those minimum and maximum figures went up by two per cent in September, and other pay ranges went up by one per cent, but the DfE has still said schools must still decide for themselves how much to pay individual teachers.

Now heads are still waiting to see if the Government will give them extra cash to pay their teachers more.

Schools could have to siphon money from other areas of their budget to fund inflated salaries, unless the Government provides extra cash.

Lord Williams's, which is rated 'outstanding' by Ofsted, said it could have to cut staff, renegotiate supply contracts and slash ICT investment.

Mr Wybron has applied for a Government grant for heating repairs, but he added: "If we don't get it, we might have to take out a loan."

He said increased pay could help teacher recruitment struggles, but warned it could bring 'a tidal wave' of financial pressures if it is unfunded.

He said: "If we are looking at all these whammies, we can't afford all the teachers."

Oxfordshire Schools Secondary Headteachers' Association, in its letter to the Chancellor, warned that the county's funding crisis has now reached the 'point of no return'.

The group invoiced the chancellor for a historic shortfall of £142,916,072, and stated the new school funding formula, unveiled in September, would maintain 'ridiculous' disparities in funding between different parts of the country.

The shortfall was calculated by comparing school funding in Oxfordshire to that in Westminster, whose secondary schools receive average funds of £6,756 per pupil compared to Oxfordshire's £4,947.

Writing on the association's behalf, Catharine Darnton said: "We know there isn’t a bottomless pit of money, but the current state of our budgets is unacceptable."

Mrs Darnton, head of Gillotts School in Henley, warned poor finances could put small rural schools at risk of closure.

She added: "It is neither sustainable nor credible for the treasury and Department for Education (DfE) to keep trotting out the same half-truths.

"We are fed up of being told that there is more money in education than ever before when parallel rising costs are completely ignored."

A DfE spokesperson said the letter was 'thoroughly misleading', adding: "It ignores the fact that, under our national formula, funding is based on the needs and characteristics of each individual school.

"We are investing an additional £1.3 billion in school funding.

"Schools in Oxfordshire would attract an increase in funding of three per cent on average if the national funding formula were implemented in full - equivalent to £10.5m."

But new figures published by website School Cuts this month predicts Oxfordshire schools will be £13.4m poorer in real terms by 2020, losing £164 per pupil on average.

It accounts for the new formula as well as factors such as inflation.

Lynn Knapp, who has taught in Oxfordshire for 36 years, said the county's schools were 'all losers' when it came to funding.

The head of Windmill Primary School in Headington said: "These last few years have been the hardest we've ever had."

She said she would be uncomfortable asking parents for cash, however, adding: "Some can easily afford to pay £10 a month, but it puts those who can't in a difficult position.

"It's not right: we are not private schools. We should be adequately funded."