Children's Secretary turns down plans for new parent-promoted school

The Children's Secretary Ed Balls has rejected proposals for a new parent-promoted secondary school in Kirklees saying that its creation would fragment the local education budget at a time when there was already a surplus of school places in the area.

Creating another school in the district would have a  negative impact on existing schools, he said, claiming that the establishment of a new school would be a "poor use of resources", citing the conclusions of a report into the proposal commissioned by the Department for Schools, Children and Families. Balls also said that opening the parents' school would have undermined the viability of a planned academy in the area.

Since the legislation to allow the creation of parent-promoted schools was implemented in 2006, only one has been approved, with two other proposals rejected. "We're very supportive of new schools where there is a need, but it's not a free lunch," Ed Balls told the BBC. "There are consequences. There will be a cost to other families."

Should they win the election., the Conservative Party plans to make it easier for parents and other providers to set up their own schools using state funding. The Conservatives' schools spokesman Michael Gove told the BBC: "too many parents don't get the schools they want. It is only the rich who can guarantee the kind of education they want for their children either by going private or paying for a mortgage on a house in the right catchment area.”