(a)

the Local Authority must make an initial determination of the Schools Budget for 2011/12 and give notice of that determination to the governing bodies of the schools it maintained before the 31 March 2011;

(b)

the Schools Budget included the Individual Schools Budget  which was determined by the local schools funding formula and all other expenditure incurred in connection with the authority’s provision of primary and secondary education and all relevant early years provision;

(c)

the local schools funding formula was determined by the local authority to ensure the equitable distribution across all schools, in consultation with the Schools Forum;

(d)

the Schools Budget had historically been funded from the ring fenced Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG), post 16 funding from the Young Peoples’ Learning Agency (YPLA) and the Standards Fund programme. The Schools Funding Settlement announced on the 13 December 2010 ended the standards fund programme and streamlined the majority of grants into the DSG;

(e)

the Local Authority must determine how the grants streamlined into the DSG, were distributed in 2011/12 and any changes to the local funding formula, prior to the final budget allocations being sent to schools;

(f)

theDSG had faced rising pressures over the last few years due to the increasing cost of providing for Special Education Needs (SEN) pupils. The Schools’ Forum commissioned a sub-group to review the funding of SEN in June 2009, to ensure that it effectively and efficiently met the needs of pupils.

(g)

the conversion of schools to academies would impact on the  DSG and those parts of the council that traded their services to schools. Academies would also receive a share of the DSG and central expenditure, with top slicing of some government grants.  The council would be working with academies to try and ensure that services were purchased from the council or if not, locally;

(h)

this was the first time that service children had been featured in the national formula and reflected in the pupil premium;

(i)

the banding changes for SEN children would enable more money to be allocated to the schools direct, without a process for claiming it.

(1)

the recommendations from the Schools’ Forum regarding the distribution of streamlined grants are accepted;

(2)

the risk to the central DSG budget is noted, as schools transfer to academy status;

(3)

the current 1 to 10 banding system used to direct funding to SEN pupils in mainstream schools will be replaced by a 1 to 4 banding system from April 2011 for new cases and for transition from primary to secondary from April 2012;

(4)

approval is given to the new allocation formula for all new named SEN cases from April 2011 and for transition from primary to secondary from April 2012;

(5)

the proposed DSG budget is set with an expected £425,000 deficit carried forward to the 2012/13 financial year. The estimated deficit will be updated to reflect the January 2011 pupil numbers and the final individual schools budget calculation;

(6)

when notification is sent to schools on their individual budget, a letter is also sent to chairs of governing bodies.