Schools may be forced to opt out in local clusters

ALL SCHOOLS in an area may be compelled to opt out once 75 per cent have decided to become grant-maintained, John Patten, the Secretary of State for Education, suggested yesterday.

Mr Patten hinted at a change in policy when he welcomed head teachers' demands that all schools in one local authority should become grant-maintained together, once the 75 per cent yardstick was reached. Until now, the Government has insisted all schools should hold a parental ballot to decide whether they wish to become grant-maintained.

Earlier this year, ministers rejected the idea that schools might opt out in clusters.

Mr Patten made his comments in an interview for BBC Radio 4's World at One which, for technical reasons, was not broadcast. He said that the National Association of Head Teachers, which published its response to the education White Paper Choice and Diversity on Sunday, was being 'more radical than the Government'. He added: 'I think it's quite a constructive input to the debate and I will consider it carefully.'

The White Paper sets up a separate funding agency, which will gradually take over the provision of school budgets from local authorities. The agency and the authority will take joint responsibility when 10 per cent of schools have opted out. Once 75 per cent of schools have left, the agency will assume complete control.

The heads say that local authorities will 'wither on the vine' when most schools have opted out and pupils in the remaining schools will suffer.

Other teacher unions were angry about the NAHT proposals. Nigel de Gruchy, general secretary of the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers, said that they were 'dangerous, destructive and defeatist. Unfortunately the NAHT is chucking in the towel before the fight has begun.'

The National Union of Teachers, which published its response to the White Paper yesterday, said that children's futures would be tied up in red tape under the new bureaucracy proposed by the Government to run schools. It said that the White Paper did not reveal its true intentions towards education authorities. 'In fact, it intends to suffocate them slowly, rather than face the political storm a straightforward proposal to abolish them would bring.'

The only extra funds on offer from a Prime Minister who says he wants every pupil to have the same oppotunities are those for a new bureaucracy, the document said. 'Instead of freeing children's abilities through high quality education, he intends to tie up their future with red tape stretching back to Whitehall.'

Puppets, hand-picked by the Secretary of State for three new national bodies, will be running schools and deciding what children should be taught. 'Parents should question whether the future of their children should be left to the judgement of one person,' the document added.

Mr Patten, rejecting the unions' criticisms, said that their opposition stemmed from a 'neo-tabloid circulation war'.