With new funding for school rebuilding, the Autumn Budget is a step forward—but more is needed. We’ll keep pushing for urgent investment in school decarbonisation, now more than ever.
Yesterday, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves announced the Autumn Budget, a document dictating public spending over the next financial year, but what does this mean for schools?
A £1.4bn investment into rebuilding schools affected by the RAAC crisis was outlined in the Budget, as well as a 19% real-terms increase in investment to the Department for Education. Teach the Future welcomes both of these steps - however, more is needed.
Alongside the school rebuilding project, we call on the Government to urgently invest in school decarbonisation and retrofit, and with new fiscal rules allowing for more borrowing, this is the perfect opportunity for bold action towards net zero schools.
This policy is popular amongst school leaders, teachers, and students - there is an ever-growing concern surrounding the school estate and we call on the Government to be ambitious in the run-up to the Spring Spending Review and commit greater funds to the school decarbonisation project.
The want and desire for zero-carbon schools is there, all that’s needed is the resources and funding to make this happen.