Pupils at Cornwallis Academy celebrate their GCSEs last year

by political editor Paul Francis

Schools have been urged to think twice before applying to become academies by the Conservative leader of Kent County Council.

Cllr Paul Carter said extra government cash provided to schools who did convert to academies was drying up and those that now did would end up with lower budgets.

He also said many of the advantages claimed for academies by the government could already be achieved by schools and warned a future government may not continue with the same policy.

Mr Carter, who outlined his views in an end-of-term letter to Kent headteachers, acknowledged he had previously believed all schools should become academies.

Kent already has 32 and a further 34 in the pipeline.

In his letter, he said: "Over a year later, we are looking at a radically different position."

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Extra funds for academies was "drying up" and schools that chose to become academies would have a lower budget, he said.

"This has created a two-tier funding system, whereby the outstanding schools that have already converted have taken with them additional funding compared to those schools remaining in local authority control.

"I feel very strongly that all different categories of schools should be funded equitably."

He went on to say schools should consider "very carefully who may be in charge of national government in the future.

Many of the freedoms academies had - such as changing the dates of terms - could be secured if schools stayed with KCC.

A Department for Education spokesman rejected the claim money was drying up. In a statement, he said: "Heads and governing bodies across the country are choosing to convert to academy status and Kent has seen a large number of conversions.

"The key point is not that academies are funded more generously but they gain more control over a proportion of their budget that would otherwise be spent by their local authority.

"They can use that money either to buy back services from the council or from elsewhere and that offer better value for money or quality."

"The fact is that academies are improving results at twice the national average rate - that’s why we’ve given every school the chance to run its own affairs, free from bureaucratic constraint and political interference, funded on the same basis as maintained schools."