Pressure is mounting on the Government to help heads with rocketing energy bills as Tories broke ranks to warn schools could go into the red this winter.
Two former Tory Education Secretaries sounded the alarm about the hit to stretched budgets from soaring energy costs, which have risen by 200% for some schools, on top of rising inflation and wage bills.
Union leaders have warned that that heads may have to cut staff, school trips and supplies as they feel the squeeze from double digit inflation and spiralling energy costs.
Gas and electricity prices for schools rose by 83% in the first quarter of 2022 compared to last year, according to analysis by the House of Commons Library, obtained by the Mirror.
The average state primary school paid £38,397 over this period, up from £20,982 in 2020/21, while secondary schools paid £153,258, up from £83,748.
Schools are not covered by the energy price cap - which will hit £3,549 a year for households on default tariffs in October - which means there is no limit to how high bills can spiral.
Lord Kenneth Baker, who served as Education Secretary under Margaret Thatcher, said schools risked going into the red without Government intervention.
“We’re heading into a really ghastly two-year period and it’s going to require remarkable leadership to come out of this smiling,” he told The Guardian.
“I think the new Education Secretary will have to go back and ask for more money, which they probably won’t get, so there’s going to be a huge pressure on schools," he said.
"Some schools are bound to go in the red. It’s going to be a very critical year and a huge amount of trouble is going to be caused in the education system."
Lord Baker warned some schools may have to cut teaching days, saying: "I think some [schools] will have to go to four days, some may go to three days."
Justine Greening, who was Education Secretary when Theresa May was PM, said children and schools were facing an “education double-hit” after the pandemic.
She said: “Education has been badly disrupted by Covid and now schools budgets are being drastically eaten away by inflation, meaning there’s less to invest in young people’s futures.
“Education has to be at the heart of the new Government’s levelling up strategy, whoever is running it, so the pressures on school budgets can’t be ignored.”
Tory Education Committee chairman Robert Halfon, who is backing Rishi Sunak, said: “ Liz Truss has talked about increasing defence and health spending.
"What about education? It’s the major challenge of our times in my view."
A Department for Education spokesperson said the Government recognised the pressures on schools.
“Cost increases should be seen in the wider context of funding for schools, with budgets to rise by £7bn by 2024-25, compared with 2021-22, including £4bn in this financial year alone.
"This is a 7% cash terms a pupil increase compared with 2021-22 and will help schools to meet wider cost pressures, including energy prices and staff salaries."
