NEVER MIND parental choice: John Major's govemment has grown so impatient at the refusal of parents and goverors to support school opt-outs he is set to make it compulsory!
Seven years of cajoling, encouragement, bribes and blackman nave so tar had pathetically little effect in persuading most schools to seck Less than 1,100 out of 25,000 schools in England -and iust one school in Scot land -have so far signed up for the Thatcherite dream of deA mere handful have applied for GM status in the last 12 months, despite the lure of additional capital for develop.
sent and extra hand-ous of revenue funding.
Faced with such embarrassing rocaon, the losy te sponse is, as ever, to compel schools to choose the wav According to the Chair of the Grant Maintained Schools Foundation, Sir Robin Balchin, the only way John Major Issuing the order: Major can achieve his goal of making all publicly-funded schools opt out would bel • allowing governing bodies to opt out without consult• telling schools they must opt out uniess a sumcicaty large petition of parents opposes the move:
• simply making opt-outs compulsory.
Sir Robin is undera path that parents and governors have repeatedly rejected -and for good reason. our grants and cutting trave!
He knows that once GM status bocomes the norm rather it has also encouraged stuthan the exception, then the dents to take up loans and overprivileges of the fint few, the drafts. This, with the exception bribes and hand-outs designed of the wealthy minority, does to win over sceptical head not lead to an affluent lifestyle. teachers and governors, will Many students now are come to an end. forced to work during the This has already happened week as well as at weekends with opted-out NHS Trusts. (full time education?). This which rapidly discovered that still does not lead to an end to none of the promised "freedom' to borrow money actu- It is not surprising then, ally materialised. that many potential students The new Tory offensive are deferring for a year after has met an unusually robust their 'A' levels or deciding response from Labour's limp against higher education altoEducation spokesperson David Blunkett, who has warned that a Labour government would block further optouts:
"Any school that believes it could dash for grant-maintained status and carry it through after we get in will be gravely mistaken' The bigest possible monilisation of parents and school students against the new round of cuts in education will create the best defence of schools against the imposition of GM status, which leads inevitably to more centralised government control, and a new drive for selection of pupils Action is needed to challenge do-nothing NUS leaders