A CHILD coming through the school gates in Cornwall deserves the same opportunities as a child growing up in a different part of the country. However, the money available to support those children tells a different story.

Cornwall receives roughly £9,000 per pupil in its overall education funding, compared to over £14,000 in the highest-funded council areas. That’s a difference of more than £5,000 for every child.

The National Funding Formula, introduced in 2018, was intended to share money out more fairly. It has helped, but large gaps remain between the council areas receiving the most and least funding, affecting the resources available to schools and the support they can offer children.

There are good reasons for some differences. Schools supporting more children with additional needs should receive more money. Higher staffing costs in urban areas like London need to be covered, too. But fairness also means recognising rural costs. Small village schools still need enough staff to operate, and specialist support must reach children across scattered communities like those in South East Cornwall.

One problem is that part of the funding is still based on what councils spent years ago, carrying past inequalities forward. Children can’t put growing up on hold while the funding catches up.

That’s why Cornwall Council belongs to f40, a national, cross-party group bringing councils together with MPs, schools and education organisations to campaign for fairer funding. The aim is to lift up the lowest-funded areas, so every school has enough funding to meet its children’s needs. I joined its Executive Committee a year ago, and on November 2 colleagues elected me as Chair.

At that meeting, Devon County Councillor Denise Bickley was elected as a Deputy Chair. Giving every child a fair chance is central to our Liberal Democrat values and an ambition Denise and I share with colleagues across the parties.

That ambition feels very real in my conversations with parents and teachers as Cornwall Council’s Cabinet Member for Children, Families and Schools. Parents want their children to feel understood and get the help they need. Teachers want the time and resources to give that help. Nobody wants a child’s needs to go unmet because the money available falls short.

Reports of another delay to the next stage of national SEND reforms are adding to the uncertainty and risk prolonging these funding disparities. Getting changes right matters enormously, and families must help shape them, but our children need support now. Every delay matters when school is already difficult for a child.

As f40 Chair, I’ll bring partners across education together to press MPs and Department for Education officials for fairer funding. Those conversations will be grounded in what families and schools tell me, so that the people shaping national policy understand what their decisions mean in our classrooms.

When children come through those school gates, they should feel they belong and know that help is there when they need it. Our funding system should help schools keep that promise.