The quality of education received by our young people should not be dependent on where they live - or their age

Mick Brookes, NAHT

Mr Brookes said the present system was "a total disgrace".

It was "unstable, unfair and unsafe", leading to "unacceptable variations in funding" throughout the country.

"The quality of education received by our young people should not be dependent on where they live - or their age."

There was a national curriculum, national inspections system, a national blueprint for teaching standards, national testing and - soon - national teaching council and college of leadership.

'Fairer funding'

"The first and urgent task of this government in the closing months of this term of office is to put in place a national system of funding which is predictable, stable, fair and simple," he said.

Mr Brookes told BBC News Online that although the general increase in funding to schools this year was supposed to be 5.2%, in practice they were getting more like 4% and often less.

What he envisaged instead was a system that allocated a "base unit" of money for each pupil.

This would then be added to, to take account of small schools and such local costs as provision for special educational needs and maintenance of buildings.

Mick Brookes: "It's a total disgrace"

"But it is important that we do not take money from those schools that already have plenty - so it's a levelling up.

"We will oppose taking money away from schools very strongly."

Heads accepted, he said, that the government did intend putting in more money and that it was not going to happen overnight.

"But we need to see that money getting through to schools," he said - raising the other key issue, the role of the 150 local education authorities (LEAs).

The present system has the government deciding how much LEAs need to fund their schools and giving that money to the authorities, which are then supposed to pass it on to schools.

Mr Brookes would retain LEAs as providers of central services that support schools, as they do with the numeracy and literacy strategies, special educational needs or pupil welfare.

"The thought of having my money delegated from Whitehall fills me with horror," he said.

But it needed to come to schools via the LEA untouched - with a separate allocation for the LEA's own services.

"It then makes the shortfall in funding absolutely clear," he said.

"Every year you have this row between the LEAs and government - 'No, it's your fault schools haven't got it' - and the poor schools are left in the middle.

"We don't care whose fault it is, we want the money."

Disparities

The chief inspector of schools in England, Chris Woodhead - usually no friend to the unions - drew attention in his annual report in February to disparities in funding.

He said the amount per pupil varied from about �1,300 to �2,500 in primary schools and from about �1,900 to more than �3,000 in secondary schools. "I do not believe that in every case these variations can be justified," he said then.

In this year's Budget, the government decided to allocate �300m of the extra �1bn for education directly to head teachers.

It is promising a consultation document on the future funding of schools later this year.