Fewer than one in five governors believe their school or trust will be financially sustainable in the medium to long term, and almost one in ten will have to set deficit budgets or seek government loans to balance income and spending.
Results of a survey by the National Governance Association, shared exclusively with Schools Week ahead of formal publication, show a steep rise in schools reporting that balancing their budgets is their top challenge.
The NGA surveyed 2,695 governors and trustees using research platform Edurio. It found that only 18 per cent of schools and trusts “perceive themselves as financially sustainable in the medium to long term given their current funding levels”.
This is down substantially on last year, when 30 per cent gave the same answer.
