We need better schools, not more spending

More money, better services? You might have thought that Gordon Brown had already tested that theory to destruction, but here it is again in the coverage of today’s Institute for Fiscal Studies report on education and schools spending. The IFS highlights that education is facing the biggest cuts over a four year period since the 1950s. And the coalition’s opponents are gleefully seizing on this as a problem in and of itself.

But it isn’t, really. As CoffeeHousers will know, education funding increased massively during the past decade. The IFS admit this themselves:

“Over the decade between 1999–2000 and 2009–10, it grew by 5.1% per year in real terms, the fastest growth over any decade since the mid-1970s. As a result, it rose from 4.5% of national income in 1999–2000 to reach a high point of 6.4% in 2009–10.”