City Academy Sponsors 'Yet To Pay'

Wed, May 03, 2006

Source: Ananova

Most of the wealthy sponsors behind Tony Blair's controversial city academies have yet to pay the money they promised for the schools, according to new figures.

Most of the wealthy sponsors behind Tony Blair's controversial city academies have yet to pay the money they promised for the schools, according to new figures.

The Guardian reported that four of the newest academies to open their doors had not received any cash from their sponsors.

Of the 27 academies which have opened since 2002, 23 have yet to receive all the private funds they are due, the paper says.

The Guardian's figures - drawn from a Parliamentary answer - are the latest blow for the Prime Minister's flagship policy for transforming education in England's inner cities.

Mixed exam results and several poor Ofsted reports have damaged the scheme's reputation and led one charity to advise potential sponsors to think again.

And police are investigating allegations that honours and peerages were offered to rich business figures in exchange for agreeing to sponsor academies.

Teachers' leaders and opposition MPs said the figures called into question the Government's arguments for the funding of the scheme.

NUT general secretary Steve Sinnott told the Guardian that the figures proved ministers were "handing over control of these schools for far less than they have led the public to believe".

Academy sponsors, including church groups and wealthy business figures, pay £2 million towards the new school and in return receive a major say over how it is run. The Government funds the rest of the bill for a new academy - typically totalling around £25 million.

Lib Dem education spokeswoman Sarah Teather said: "The Government has led everybody to believe that the £2 million will be handed over from the first day the doors open at each academy. After all, this is when the sponsor can exercise control over the curriculum, staffing and admissions."

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