10:47am Friday 4th July 2008
By Dan Goater
HIGH deficits in Dorset schools' budgets are unacceptable', county councillors have been warned.
A report shows the budgets of 12 of the county's 20 secondary schools are in the red along with those of 19 primary schools, four middle schools and one boarding school.
Dorset County Council's head of accountancy support, Richard Bates, says action is now needed to reverse the trend and the schools' total annual deficit of more than £3.5 million.
In a report Mr Bates says: "Dorset is in the unacceptable position of having a high level of deficits in its schools.
"Although the local authority is relatively poorly funded it is clear that other authorities receiving similar settlements are not experiencing the same level of deficits."
The report proposes enacting a new policy in which deficit budgets' put forward by schools will be rejected and returned before the council helps the school balance its budget.
Mr Bates warned the scheme would involve a much stricter treatment' of schools' financial surpluses and that the shopping list' of reasons given by schools for keeping them will be removed.
The report says these excesses will be clawed back' by the council and used to help other schools in deficit.
It adds: "The increase in deficits is currently more than balanced by high surpluses.
"However this model is not financially efficient and is therefore not supporting Dorset's schools in their provision of high quality education."
The policy could also involve schools repaying deficits through a match-funding scheme designed to encourage schools to square their budgets more quickly, Mr Bates added.
Mr Bates claims one of the council's sources of funding for the scheme - worth around £125,000 - would be clawed back' from the excess balances of more successful schools and redistributed.
Mr Bates also suggests that £696,000 could come from a schools contingency fund, which was underspent in the last financial year.
Councillors will discuss approving the new policy at a meeting on Wednesday at County Hall, Dorchester.
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