Head teacher, Jonathan Parker, said that funding problems at Edenham High School in Croydon, south London are so bad that there is no money to pay for temporary staff cover.

This means that 720 of 1,200 pupils went home after lunch.

The Department for Education insists the school is an exceptional case and is demanding an explanation.

Who is to blame for the funding crisis in some of our schools?

This debate is now closed. Read a selection of your comments below.

The following comments reflect the balance of views we have received:

For yonks people have campaigned for local spending to be controlled at local areas and now look at what is happening?!? It seems our councils are more worried about traffic calming and nice council buildings than our schools.
A, UK

Without regular parental contributions, no school has chance at achieving the tough targets that are being set Cath Whitaker, UK

The head teacher at our local primary school has resorted to a sponsored parachute jump to try and fill the hole in the budget. As usual, it is parents who end up supporting this type of activity. I though education was supposed to be free, but without regular parental contributions, no school has chance at achieving the tough targets that are being set without the corresponding funds. This is our daughter's first year at school and it has been a real wake up call for us to see exactly how much the school relies on the goodwill and generosity of the local community to be able to operate.
Cath Whitaker, UK

A few years back there was a much trumpeted scheme to cut class sizes. This can only have been done by hiring more teachers, and now we are hearing that schools don't have enough money to pay for these extra teachers.
Peter, UK

The school funding fiasco is making the headlines because it's finally hit schools in London. Here in Dorset the problem's been around for years.
A M Snowden, UK

Our story makes Edenham look like pocket money Noel, N. Ireland

The problem is widespread across the country. In Northern Ireland the local education and library boards also withhold money that belongs to schools. I am a school bursar and our story makes Edenham look like pocket money.
Noel, N. Ireland

Until the immense importance of the profession of teaching is recognised and appropriately rewarded (i.e. higher salaries - more incentive for people to want to become a teacher, less paperwork and bureaucracy) then we are not going to have new teachers coming through and a complete reform of the pre-further education system is not going to be taken seriously by politicians and the government.
Yamin, Germany

Same thing here in St Louis. The special school district (disabled kids) had to close school one week early due to lack of funds. Maybe we're spending too much on entertainers and athletes, instead of the really critical things?
Burney Dutton, USA

The school has either spent their money too quickly and on the wrong things Peter, UK

All public high schools are funded the same amount of money, so the government is not to blame. The school has either spent their money too quickly and on the wrong things or it may just be a bad month for them. I would keep the pupils at home for a few weeks while the school saves enough money to get up and running again.
Peter, UK

I work in a west London school that had a deficit in excess of �400,000 at the end of the last financial year. The following factors should be taken into account before blaming our Head teacher.

• Although the government have increased education spending, the vast majority of that is going into further education.
• Schools budgets are being increased by less than the rate of inflation currently.
• The salaries of non-teaching staff (librarians, technicians, admin staff, cleaners etc.) are not covered by the budget from the local government. These jobs have to be paid for directly by the school, despite being essential to the running of the school.

Our PTA has monthly, and sometimes fortnightly, events to help raise money Graham Cole, England

My two sons attend a well liked and respected primary school in Kent. The school intake is always oversubscribed and secondary schools in our area very rarely turn away applicants from the primary school. Yet this month, my two sons have had to do a sponsored walk to raise school funds. Our PTA has monthly, and sometimes fortnightly, events to help raise money. Yet in the past term, this school has had to tell several teacher assistants there is no funds to employ them. Yet this year my council tax rose 24%. Can someone please explain whats going on?
Graham Cole, England

We had a budget for war, but not education. How can they spend money on TV ads for teachers but have no money to pay them?.
Graham, UK

The funding crisis is caused by an over-complex system that allows all participants to point the finger at someone else. A simpler system, such as vouchers for parents, would be more transparent as well as allowing parents to exercise choice.
Neil, England

I worry about the effect on my little brother's education James, Bath, UK

The secondary school that I study at in Bath has been praised by OFSTED in recent years but is now in the middle of a funding crisis. A number of experienced teachers are leaving in the summer and not being replaced. Next year teachers will have to cover lessons outside of their subject area, leaving them with less time to prepare adequately for other lessons. Thankfully I am leaving this summer, and I feel like I am getting out just in time, although I worry about the effect on my little brother's education, as he still has 6 years left, as these cuts are surely going to have big effects.
James, Bath, UK

Here in Japan, when a high school teacher calls in sick from school, their lessons are covered by other teachers. We do not have substitute teachers except in cases of long term absence. The teachers share responsibility for their students and for each other.
Louise C, Japan

How about employing relatively speaking lower qualified and cheaper admin staff to do all the paperwork that teachers now have to do? That will free up time for teachers to do more of what we want them to do, i.e. teach.
Christine, UK

As head teacher of a large primary school the funding crisis is caused by a disastrous change in the funding formula that could not have been anticipated by school leaders. Another factor is the high staffing cost to schools of initiatives such as the Threshold that we were told would be fully funded by the government and were not. Another factor is our funding is based on pupil numbers which are impossible to predict accurately from one year to the next. Don't blame the head teachers for this crisis. The majority of our funding is not under our control. We don't like this instability and would prefer not to be in this position.
Dee, UK

If you expect head teachers and governors to manage huge budgets, give them the training to deal with it too - that can only be a good thing. But that can't be the only reason; otherwise this would happen every year to many more schools. It's impossible to tell what's happened with all the mudslinging.
Katherine, UK

He has used his pupils as pawns in a political manner! SL, UK

I hope all of the children who were sent home had someone to go home to. Jonathan Parker's actions seem irresponsible. If he can't afford teachers for the children at least he could have the supervised until normal 'home time'. He should have been able to predict his level of staff absenteeism and acted in a measured way, not in a knee-jerk, headline grabbing manner. He has used his pupils as pawns in a political manner! I work in engineering - we don't have 'supply' engineers to cover for sick colleagues we just have to distribute the work between ourselves.
SL, UK

I live in Croydon where the school had to close. My council tax rose by approx 28% this year. This is well above the cost of inflation and yet schools are having to close due to lack of funding. Where is our money going if not on essential services?
Sarah Reardon, UK

Asylum seekers, of course! (Well, we blame everything else on them).
Anon, UK

15 years of the Tories gutting the education budget to fund tax cuts still leaves its legacy. Labour's cowardice in failing to restore it is equally as foolish and short-sighted.
Peter Nightingale, UK

If I was to keep my children away from school (let's say I take them on holiday or go shopping) in term time the weight of the law will be used against me and I could be fined or at worst put in prison, as has happened recently in certain areas. So what can we the parents do if the schools break their contract and send the kids home when they should be teaching them?
Garry Smith, UK

Head teachers are often useless at managing cash John, UK

The problem is that local authorities and head teachers are often useless at managing cash. It's not the teachers' fault - after all, what experience do they get in managing a budget? They should concentrate on what they are best at, ie teaching and there should be a proper bursar system as in the private sector, where often there is a properly qualified accountant to run the school budget.
John, UK

Many comments underestimate the sheer complexity of the funding system for schools. As well as their main grant, schools can bid for money under many different programmes. This year many of these programmes have been consolidated into mainstream budgets. While this is, in general, a victory for common sense, it has been very destabilising to the schools that were good at securing extra funds by proving themselves effective at implementing new projects.

My daughter's school has been commended for its management by Ofsted, and is facing a shortfall of over half a million. So where does the blame lie? With the government for under-funding and with the local authority for trying to equalise funding across the schools in its area at one fell swoop.
Mike, UK

This is unbelievable! A good education is one of the most important things in life. Can you imagine the crime wave generated around the area with 720 unmotivated teenagers roaming the streets whilst people are busy at work?
Nick A, Putney, UK

I am a pupil at Edenham High School, and am unhappy with the current situation. The school use to be respectable, yet has gone downhill. Thankfully I am leaving this year and can't wait to get away! As for Nick A, don't stereotype us 'unmotivated teenagers'.
Anon, Croydon

Why is it that whenever anything goes wrong at a local level, nobody seems to be accountable? Surely it's time these levels of bureaucracy and incompetence were stripped away, and control and accountability were given to a single, central body. Not only would this give greater transparency and accountability to the taxpayer, but the cost savings would also enable the required number of teachers to be hired.
Dan P, UK

School boards will cut and cut until they are down to the bare bones SW, USA

The same thing occurs here and the school boards will cut and cut until they are down to the bare bones. Portland, Oregon teachers recently agreed to a 5% pay cut and to work 10 free days per year. They already have the shortest school year and can't cut out any more days. They'd rather do that than lose their jobs in a city with high unemployment.
SW, USA

720 children sent home because they cannot afford to pay cover for sick staff. That comes to 20 sick teachers! Something does not add up here.
Andy, UK

Standing in my children's playground in April I listened to the other parents complaining about the rises in council tax... if people want more money to be put into schools they must be prepared to provide it.
Suzanne, UK

Supply staff are needed when teachers are sick. If someone in my workplace is ill then the rest of the staff have to take on additional duties.
David, UK

I have been married to a teacher for a long time and from the sidelines I have seen the changes in the amount of paperwork/reports teachers are expected to write. Don't we employ these people to teach our children?
Steve, UK

I am what many would describe as a 'businessman', and consequently very familiar with financial accounts and the employment of staff. When I became a school governor, I was amazed that no other governor at our school, or the head, was at all well versed with accounts - most work for local or central government. It is, therefore, no great surprise to me that many schools are in financial trouble. But central government must take some of the blame because, if our school budget is representative, they have underestimated the cost of salary and benefits increases for teachers.
Chris, UK

So much for education, education, education! John Flanagan, Britain

Something has certainly gone badly wrong with funding this year. My school is having to make four redundancies of teaching staff to set a legal budget. Mr Clark's idea of allowing funds to be drawn in from money set aside for capital works won't work. It's too little too late. Redundancy notices have to be served by the end of the month, and LEAs are already setting restrictions on schools being allowed to access the capital spend. It's very depressing, trying to do a great job with deprived children, and being given the wherewithal to do it. So much for education, education, education!
John Flanagan, Britain

My daughter and son were pupils at Edenham when it was a grant maintained school and doing very well, but because of Labour Party dogma and spite this brilliant scheme was scraped and now the chickens are coming home to roost.
Richard, Shirley, Croydon

To those that say it's the teachers and the head teachers fault as these people cannot manage finances, can you explain why in previous decades there haven't been funding crisis of this nature when those same types of people were in charge? The only thing that has changed is the government in power, they have ultimate responsibility for education and therefore they are clearly to blame.
Steve McCoull, UK

Lack of funds to enable them to pay staff adequately Julie Baker, UK

My son is at another Croydon high school where the hours for the lower school were cut last September by 3/4 of an hour. The school said this was because they were unable to hire appropriately qualified staff but this amounts to the same thing - lack of funds to enable them to pay staff adequately.
Julie Baker, UK

What is Croydon Council doing to our town and community? They have put up our council tax 27% for 2002/03, and for that we find that our schools are sending home pupils due to lack of funding.
Simon J, Croydon, England

I have �90,000+ in my devolved capital budget. I thank Charles Clarke for giving me the freedom to spend it as I will without a 'ring fence'. Unfortunately due to prudent planning for repair, maintenance and a �50,000 commitment to our new building programme this money has now gone! Can he realistically expect schools, two months into the new financial year, to have any of this money available? The public should realise that this 'quick fix' is no fix at all and another example of the game of monetary smoke and mirrors that the government have been playing for the past few years.
Paul, Headteacher, UK

I work with schools in an LEA and agree with Anon of Leeds. Schools are generally funded well but they aren't always managed well. The concept of lay people as governors, and an ex-teaching or still-teaching heads as a CEO over multi-million pound budgets is what causes mismanagement. Some are just too idealistic or political to apply sound and practical management techniques to the problems they face daily.
Anon, UK

I have witnessed the mismanagement of tens of thousands of pounds per year Anon, Leeds

In my experience in school administration for over 8 years, some schools are awash with money. This may surprise some of you. I have witnessed the mismanagement of tens of thousands of pounds per year, purchasing incorrect goods and services. Headteachers and governors need to made responsible and be suitably trained in finance before given budgets in excess of 3 million pounds per year for an average upper school, to effectively delegate as they please. Teacher sickness is also key, I have experience of persistent sickness for 6 months at a time, where teachers are on full pay, then they leave and come back as temporary teachers covering their own post, on �250 plus a day. How can this be allowed?
Anon, Leeds

Why does one school have to pay �65K in one year for supply teachers? That's the equivalent of three full time teachers!!! Surely the full time staff aren't taking so many "sickies"? If they can't take the heat they should get out of the kitchen!! Our children deserve better than to have different teachers every five minutes. I am appalled.
Rosemary, UK

I don't know how the headmaster (and the LEA) can blame increases in the cost of employment for his inability to budget correctly. Those increased costs were announced in the budget over a year ago and all businesses have had time to plan for their implementation.
Frank, England

The shortage of teachers pushes up salaries Gary Webb, UK

I've been a school governor, and can confirm that over 90% of the budget goes on staff salaries. There are a number of reasons for this, but one main one is that the shortage of teachers pushes up salaries (they can shop around for the job which pays the most), and teachers from overseas cannot teach in the UK unless they are (a) supply teachers (and hence paid agency rates) or (b) qualify with a PGCE. To solve this problem, the staff salaries must be brought to 90% of budget, either by more money or less teachers (i.e. increased class sizes).
Gary Webb, UK

Blame is irrelevant. Councils and government should stop bickering and get the money to the schools that need it before serious damage is done, ASAP.
Jamie, UK

I want politicians and civil servants to deliver what they promised Nigel A, England

I have 3 children at an underfunded secondary school in South Cambridgeshire. I don't want witch-hunts - I want politicians and civil servants to deliver what they promised so that my kids can have a decent education.
Nigel A, England

The problem is the higher costs of employing teachers. Staff costs at my son's secondary have risen in the last year from �1m to �1.25m. There hasn't been a similar huge increase in the value the school contributes to society in terms of qualifications. In fact over the last couple of years, the percentage leaving without any qualifications has increased.
Debbie Davies, England

Yet another compelling reason to go private.
Anon, UK

I wrote to my local LEA and the Dept for Education back in March asking why our local school was facing just such a funding shortage and true to form, at great length and complexity they blamed each other. I am none the wiser but the money is still not there.
Steve Male, UK

For too long we have underfunded our education system Gill Mabbett, UK

As a parent and a teacher I can see two sides to this situation. For too long we have underfunded our education system AND expected our teachers to take on more and more... we are now reaping the consequences. Surely our children are worth more. The government have increased funding with one hand but taken it away in increased national insurance contributions for staff, enforced increases in pension contributions etc. As a parent I want the best for my children... not to be sent home because the school cannot afford to employ supply staff.
Gill Mabbett, UK

Lack of responsibility, lack of funding, this government couldn't run a pie eating contest in a bakery. They should be ashamed of themselves, especially as education was Tony's priority - well it was until the euro came along!!!!
Gareth, UK

The problem is as usual the government not anticipating the effect of changes to the way in which schools are funded. It would have been better to build on last year's approach and give more funds directly to schools if that is what they want to do. However, by changing everything at once they have caused this problem. It is also unfair to argue it is the fault of the LEAs because any headteacher will be able to spot whether their LEA has kept back money and none so far apart from Charles Clarke have accused their LEA of doing so.
Simon Darby, UK

Over 90% of the school's budget goes on staff salaries Chris, UK

My fianc�e is a teacher and her school is having a similar problem. Nearly all of the teachers that she works with have been there many years and so are much higher up the pay scale. Over 90% of the school's budget goes on staff salaries.
Chris, UK

My son's school also has a huge deficit in funding this year as well. The blame lies squarely with the way it has been calculated and distributed. So many schools are reporting a problem and they can't all be wrong. Someone should put their hand up soon and admit there is a problem before our children end up doing 2 day weeks!
Kim, UK

The councils and LEAs are to blame. When the Government announces new money for schools it should insist that it be distributed on a budget per capita basis to schools without the LEA or the council having an opportunity to cream it off.
Kerry, London, England