WILMSLOW’S state schools will be among the worst funded in the country if a proposed Government funding plan is passed.

Cheshire East Council will go from being the sixth-lowest funded local authority in England for education to the worst funded in the country should the Government’s national funding formula be accepted.

The proposal, announced earlier this month, would see CEC’s education funding be reduced from £4,158 per head to £4,122 per head.

Fiona Bruce, Conservative MP for Congleton, has now asked the government to “go back to the drawing board” on the proposal.

Dr James Pullé, headteacher at Wilmslow High School, told the Guardian that the government’s plans would force him to make ‘difficult decisions’ in the future.

“Given that we were already the sixth lowest funded local authority area in England it still seems unbelievable that the funding provided to CEC should actually be reduced by the proposed national funding formula,” he said.

“If it is implemented alongside the unfunded increases in employer costs that are already scheduled then, according to the recent National Audit Office calculations, schools in the borough will have to make savings of over 10 per cent on their current budgets.

“Although Wilmslow High School has an excellent track record of developing additional funding streams and finding efficiency savings through careful management of our resources, over the next few years we will have to make some very difficult choices if the proposed national funding formula is not changed.

“East Cheshire headteachers intend to develop a coordinated response to the proposed National Funding Formula and we will be meeting to start this process early in the new year.”

In a speech made to the House of Commons on Tuesday, December 20, Mrs Bruce named headteachers in her own constituency who would struggle to cope with the national funding formula’s impact.

One headteacher suggested their school may only be able to afford to open on four days a week should the plan be accepted.

Mrs Bruce said: “Imagine my [headteachers’] consternation last week when they discovered that their funding will not increase, but actually drop.

“I use the word consternation – they used the word outrage.

“No wonder that within 48 hours of the announcement no fewer than five headteachers came to my constituency office to express their utter dismay.

“They have concluded that the proposed national fairer funding formula is not fit for purpose, certainly in CEC.”

CEC was unable to comment.