Budgeted School Running Costs: 2002-2003

News Release
BUDGETED SCHOOL RUNNING COSTS : 2002-2003

3rd January 2003

A Scottish Executive National Statistics Publication

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The latest data on budgeted school running costs in Scottish schools has been published today by the Scottish Executive Education Department

The main points are:

• The average budgeted running cost per pupil was significantly higher in secondary schools than in primary. For 2002-2003, the average cost per pupil in primary schools was 2,369, compared with 3,513 in secondary schools.
• Both primary and secondary school budgeted running cost per pupil rose by 6 per cent in cash terms between 2001-2002 and 2002-2003. This was a rise of 44% in cash terms since 1993-94 for primary and 31% for secondary.
• Eilean Siar, Shetland Islands and Orkney Islands had the highest average running costs per pupil, in both primary and secondary schools. The lowest costs per pupil were in Moray, East Lothian, Falkirk and Renfrewshire in primary schools and in Glasgow City, Renfrewshire, East Renfrewshire and Fife in secondary schools.

There are several important factors which affect the budgeted running cost per pupil for a school; in general, the smaller the school, the higher the cost per pupil. The influence of size on running cost is less marked among larger schools.

NOTES TO NEWS EDITORS

1. Sources

Annual budgeted running cost information is provided to The Scottish Executive by the education authorities, and managers of grant-aided and self-governing schools. The total budgeted running cost of each school relates to the period 1 ^st April 2002 to 31 ^st March 2003, and similarly for previous years.

School roll information is provided to The Scottish Executive by schools each September as part of the annual School Census.

2. Coverage

This report contains two years' information on school roll and budgeted school running costs, for education authority primary and secondary schools, at summary level (Tables 4 and 5). Two years' information is provided for all education authority primary and secondary, grant-aided and self-governing schools in Scotland (Section 3 and 4).

This report does not provide information on costs in special schools, independent schools or pre-school establishments.

Schools which closed at the end of the 2001/2002 session are not included in the report.

The costs of schools with rolls between one and four pupils are not shown in the report (denoted by **).

Chart 2 does not include points for schools which have budgeted running costs higher than 10,000 per pupil per year. However, where the school roll is greater than four pupils, the relevant figure is shown in the tables.

The costs of schools which have recently opened or merged with another school are not shown, nor included in any calculations, since meaningful information is not available (denoted by ##).

The costs of schools with pre-school classes or both primary and secondary departments have been split into the appropriate sectors. The cost and roll figures shown therefore refer to the primary and secondary sectors only in each case.

3. Definitions

The figures set out in this bulletin are defined as follows:

· Total budgeted school running cost for the year 1 April to 31 March is defined by the School Boards (Financial Information) (Scotland) Regulations 1990. It includes:

Staff Costs including salary costs for permanent and temporary teachers and instructors, school-based administrative and support staff, janitors and manual grades and other costs related to employment of staff.

Premises Costs including rent and rates, insurance, repairs and maintenance, gas, electricity and other fuels, fixtures and fittings and the cleaning of school premises.

Supplies Costs including books, materials and educational equipment.

Transport Costs including leasing of vehicles for the school, repairs and maintenance of vehicles and equipment and running costs.

Examination Entry Fees.

School Board Related Costs including the cost of School Board administration, training and other related expenditure.

Other School Running Costs including the cost of school hostels and catering.

The overall cost figure is provided to each School Board annually. It may not necessarily include all the costs of running the school. Other costs relating to the school may also have been incurred during the period, for example, capital spending or a proportion of total education authority expenditure on services such as those provided by advisers and psychologists. These costs would not necessarily be included in the school running cost total provided to the School Board.

· School roll for any session is the total number of pupils on the roll in the school census taken in September of that session. It does not include adults enrolled for day-time classes, pupils of other schools who use the facilities of the school on a part-time basis, or other individuals who use the school facilities, for example, where the school is a community school. For the purpose of this report, pupils who are placed in special units are included in the school roll.

· Budgeted school running cost per pupil is obtained by dividing the total budgeted school running costs by the school roll. You should note that while the school roll used for the calculation for this year's figures is the roll for the 2001/2002 school session, the budgeted school costs actually relate to the period from 1 April 2002 to 31 March 2003. This period covers part of the 2001/2002 school session and part of the 2002/2003 school session. The corresponding periods for school roll and cost figures were used in previous years.

· The education authority average is the average cost for all pupils in education authority schools only. Education authority averages have been calculated separately for the primary and secondary sectors.

· The national average shows the average for education authority, grant-aided and self-governing schools in Scotland. National averages have been calculated separately for the primary and secondary sectors.

The corresponding figures for the previous year are also shown in the school-by-school tables. It should be noted, however, that over these two years, some authorities may have made changes to their policy on which costs are allocated to school level. Also, there may have been changes made to the way specific costs are allocated to individual schools. Further, a school budget for 2002-2003 may have been revised as a result of the actual costs incurred during 2001-2002. All of the costs shown in this report are budgeted, not actual.

4. Interpretation of figures for individual schools

While the legislation specifies that the above cost headings are used in all cases, it allows for some flexibility in the composition of the figures under some of the headings. Certain costs may either be budgeted for at individual school level or included as central education authority costs. Examples would be debt repayment changes or the costs of providing for special educational needs. If such costs have not been allocated at school level then they will not be included in the total budgeted school running costs. As a result, figures for schools in one education authority may not be directly comparable with those in another education authority nor with figures for a grant-aided or self-governing school.

Firmer comparisons should, in principle, be possible between schools within any one education authority although even then care is needed. In a number of cases, schools that are currently managed by one education authority were formerly managed by different predecessor regions and island areas. Previous differences in the basis for funding might still have some effect. There may be complications even for schools that were linked to the same predecessor authority. For example, the phasing of schemes of devolved school management may result in different proportions of total running costs being allocated directly to different groups of schools in particular years.

The following points should also be considered when looking at the costs given in the school tables:

· Larger schools will generally have larger total running costs than small schools. However, because of the particular circumstances of each school, you should not expect budgeted running costs per pupil to be linked exactly to school rolls.

· In large schools there may be savings because some costs can be spread out over a larger number of pupils. For example, staff costs are the largest single element of total costs and the pupil-teacher ratio is generally higher in large schools.

· Schools with rolls well below their capacity may have higher overhead costs than other schools with similar rolls. Overhead costs are fixed costs which cannot be avoided, such as rates and heating costs. In schools which are not at their full capacity, it may be possible for more pupils to attend the school without the need to employ extra teaching staff or significantly increase other running costs.

· The age and condition of a school's buildings will affect the expenditure on repairs and maintenance and possibly on fuel. For example, older school buildings may be more expensive to maintain and heat.

· Any significant change in the school roll over the two sessions to which the 2002-2003 information refers may affect the budgeted cost per pupil figure in the table. If the education authority has budgeted for a roll rising above the September 2001 census figure, the costs may appear to be relatively high, and vice versa.

· The inclusion of a special unit at a school may significantly affect the budgeted running cost per pupil. The running cost per pupil of a special unit can be expected to be higher than the running costs for pupils in the other part of the school. However, the overall effect will be heavily dependent on the number of pupils in the special unit and the nature of their needs.

· Some education authorities have a policy to provide extra staffing and resources to certain schools. For example, extra teachers may be given to schools in an area designated for priority treatment. Such schools are likely to have higher budgeted costs than schools of a similar roll in other areas.

· Some secondary schools offer courses to large numbers of adult returners or pupils of other schools. These individuals are not included in the school roll figure for the report. There may be different practices for allocating the costs in these cases.

· Some schools serving sparsely populated areas have hostels, the cost of which is included in the total budgeted costs.

· In a number of cases, schools have several departments, for example, primary and pre-school classes, primary and secondary. Costs for the primary and secondary departments have been allocated separately by the education authority. However, some staff and facilities may be shared. The costs may be rather lower than would have been the case if the departments operated as completely separate schools.

· In a number of cases schools may share a single building or two schools may occupy a single campus with shared facilities and services. Costs have been allocated to each relevant individual school by the education authority.

· Some education authorities locate community provision in certain schools. This is often reflected by the inclusion of 'community' in the name of the school. Some other schools may have central resources or staff located there. The running costs in all such cases should be shared between the various users but there may be different practices between authorities.

5. Symbols

Two asterisks (**) have been inserted in the tables for costs of schools with rolls between one and four pupils.

Two hashes (##) have been inserted where a school has recently opened or merged with another schools and this information is not available.

This is a National Statistics publication. National Statistics are produced to high professional standards set out in the National Statistics Code of Practice. They undergo regular quality assurance reviews to ensure that they meet customer needs. They are produced free from any political interference.

6. Enquiries

Statistical tables are available below.

Public enquiries (non-media) about the information contained in this News Release should be addressed to Mal Cooke, Statistician, Scottish Executive Education Department, Room 1-A, Victoria Quay, Edinburgh EH6 6QQ. Telephone 0131 244 1689 or e-mail ea.stats@scotland.gsi.gov.uk.

Media enquiries about the information in this News Release should be addressed to:

Murray Meikle: 0131 244 2972
News Release
3 January 2003

List of Tables

1. National Summary
Table 1: Budgeted school running cost per pupil, 1993-1994 to 2002-2003
Table 2: Budgeted running cost per pupil in primary schools, by size of school, 2002-2003
Table 3: Budgeted running cost per pupil in secondary schools, by size of school, 2002-2003

2. Education Authority Summary
Table 4: Average costs in education authority primary schools
Table 5: Average costs in education authority secondary schools

3. Education Authority Schools by Council
ABERDEEN CITY PRIMARY SCHOOLS
ABERDEEN CITY SECONDARY SCHOOLS
ABERDEENSHIRE PRIMARY SCHOOLS
ABERDEENSHIRE SECONDARY SCHOOLS
ANGUS PRIMARY SCHOOLS
ANGUS SECONDARY SCHOOLS
ARGYLL & BUTE PRIMARY SCHOOLS
ARGYLL & BUTE SECONDARY SCHOOLS
CLACKMANNANSHIRE PRIMARY SCHOOLS
CLACKMANNANSHIRE SECONDARY SCHOOLS
DUMFRIES & GALLOWAY PRIMARY SCHOOLS
DUMFRIES & GALLOWAY SECONDARY SCHOOLS
DUNDEE CITY PRIMARY SCHOOLS
DUNDEE CITY SECONDARY SCHOOLS
EAST AYRSHIRE PRIMARY SCHOOLS
EAST AYRSHIRE SECONDARY SCHOOLS
EAST DUNBARTONSHIRE PRIMARY SCHOOLS
EAST DUNBARTONSHIRE SECONDARY SCHOOLS
EAST LOTHIAN PRIMARY SCHOOLS
EAST LOTHIAN SECONDARY SCHOOLS
EAST RENFREWSHIRE PRIMARY SCHOOLS
EAST RENFREWSHIRE SECONDARY SCHOOLS
CITY OF EDINBURGH PRIMARY SCHOOLS
CITY OF EDINBURGH SECONDARY SCHOOLS
EILEAN SIAR (WESTERN ISLES) PRIMARY SCHOOLS
EILEAN SIAR (WESTERN ISLES) SECONDARY SCHOOLS
FALKIRK PRIMARY SCHOOLS
FALKIRK SECONDARY SCHOOLS
FIFE PRIMARY SCHOOLS
FIFE SECONDARY SCHOOLS
GLASGOW CITY PRIMARY SCHOOLS
GLASGOW CITY SECONDARY SCHOOLS
HIGHLAND PRIMARY SCHOOLS
HIGHLAND SECONDARY SCHOOLS
INVERCLYDE PRIMARY SCHOOLS
INVERCLYDE SECONDARY SCHOOLS
MIDLOTHIAN PRIMARY SCHOOLS
MIDLOTHIAN SECONDARY SCHOOLS
MORAY PRIMARY SCHOOLS
MORAY SECONDARY SCHOOLS
NORTH AYRSHIRE PRIMARY SCHOOLS
NORTH AYRSHIRE SECONDARY SCHOOLS
NORTH LANARKSHIRE PRIMARY SCHOOLS
NORTH LANARKSHIRE SECONDARY SCHOOLS
ORKNEY PRIMARY SCHOOLS
ORKNEY SECONDARY SCHOOLS
PERTH & KINROSS PRIMARY SCHOOLS
PERTH & KINROSS SECONDARY SCHOOLS
RENFREWSHIRE PRIMARY SCHOOLS
RENFREWSHIRE SECONDARY SCHOOLS
SCOTTISH BORDERS PRIMARY SCHOOLS
SCOTTISH BORDERS SECONDARY SCHOOLS
SHETLAND ISLANDS PRIMARY SCHOOLS
SHETLAND ISLANDS SECONDARY SCHOOLS
SOUTH AYRSHIRE PRIMARY SCHOOLS
SOUTH AYRSHIRE SECONDARY SCHOOLS
SOUTH LANARKSHIRE PRIMARY SCHOOLS
SOUTH LANARKSHIRE SECONDARY SCHOOLS
STIRLING PRIMARY SCHOOLS
STIRLING SECONDARY SCHOOLS
WEST DUNBARTONSHIRE PRIMARY SCHOOLS
WEST DUNBARTONSHIRE SECONDARY SCHOOLS
WEST LOTHIAN PRIMARY SCHOOLS
WEST LOTHIAN SECONDARY SCHOOLS

4. Grant-aided and Self-governing Schools
GRANT AIDED PRIMARY SCHOOL
GRANT AIDED SECONDARY SCHOOL
SELF GOVERNING PRIMARY SCHOOL