What do they expect ?

[observer]

Seems schoolkids in "the North of England" are disadvantaged in comparison with their S/Eastern counterparts; which can be added to a host of disadvantages.  With London as the political and economic centre of the UK,  it's no surprise to discover that wealth and Gov spending priorities gravitate there, which suggests that this can only be countered through a geographical redistribution of powers and funds, in the form of devolution.  With the use of a Barnet Formula Plus,  a system of Regional Governance would allow this imbalance to be addressed. Instead, we've had back of an envelope ideas like "the Northern Power House" and City Mayors, all thrown into the dogs breakfast that is our current archaic political and constitutional framework. Alas, I doubt our political establishment are capable of thinking outside the M25 bubble.      

[Confused52]

The new school funding formula is the same everywhere and based on objective measures. The amount of money is higher in the south because they have higher teachers pay to reflect higher living costs. This system was only established last year in the face of opposition from our own idiot local councillors. The vast majority of respondents in the consultation favoured the new system.

The old system which is the one that reflected the findings, I assume, was invented by Labour to favour their own heartlands, especially London, and not changed by the Coalition to prevent whingeing. However it is gone now in favour of a fairer system with funds devolved on the basis of school needs not Local Authority needs. It really wasn't about Southern Bias just the Labour bias that we should all be used to by now.

I would not personally base anything on the Barnet Formula as it fails to deliver fair outcomes. I do not call fair a system where English students are paying fees ( the fees count as income in England so a proportion of that goes to Scotland based on population and the Scottish Government top up education budgets with it) so that Scottish students don't a fair outcome, it is gaming the system. That money should be spent of English Education and the Barnet Formula is flawed. Any notion of a "plus" would make it much more flawed in my opinion.

[observer]

I hate to accept that the EU did anything right, but in the case of Regional aid, they clearly identified areas of the North for additional aid, which would have been paid directly had not Thatcher insisted it be paid via central UK Gov, and thus compromised.  Wealth gravitates to centres of political control and economic activity, and as with demographic imbalances, redistribution mechanisms are required to correct the imbalance.