CLLR Lars Kramm rightly highlights some of the hidden costs associated with the Academies programme (Letters, October 2).

In addition to the £32 million debt left with local authorities, schools choosing to become Academies receive grants of £25,000 towards the legal and financial costs of conversion (though the DfE openly recognises this is just a “contribution towards the costs”, requiring further costs to be borne within existing budgets).

Approaching 5,000 schools have converted to Academies since 2010, equating to more than £100 million of Department for Education money that has gone to lawyers and bureaucrats rather than buildings, teachers or books.

It is estimated £10 billion of public assets in the form of school buildings have been handed, free, to the private companies all Academies must establish.

I do not share Cllr Kramm’s pessimism about the inevitability of the Academies programme, however.

As one of England’s smallest and least academised local authorities, York can lead the way in creating alternative models of co-operation between our schools, communities, parents and staff.

Indeed, many York schools already work collaboratively through memorandums of understanding and wish to retain their local democratic accountability.

Few parents I speak to are enthusiastic about Academy conversion but unless we speak out we will shortly lose our schools to this flawed ideological experiment.

Jonny Crawshaw, Scarcroft parent, Wentworth Road, York

 

I MUST write to correct the false impression given by Cllr Kramm (Letters, October 2) concerning the debts of schools opting to convert to academies.

He refers to a BBC article which says that the debt of a school which opts to become an academy is left with the local authority.

Unfortunately, what the BBC did not then go on to say was that the Department for Education reimburses the local authority and gets the debt back from the new academy by reducing its grant slightly for a few years until the debt is paid off.

This was, though, implicit in a quote from a Department of Education spokesperson at the end of the long article which explained that local authorities were only responsible for the debts of schools which the department required to become academies.

Therefore, the unfairness that Cllr Kramm refers to does not exist as other schools in York will not pick up the debts, if any, of schools choosing to become academies.

Jenny Brooks, Executive member for education, children and young people, Osbaldwick and Derwent ward councillor (Conservative), Water Lane, Dunnington, York