{
  "abstract": "Background Having equitably funded schools is an important policy objective for education, health and economic purposes. Over the last decade there have been reductions in funding for schools in England which have potentially impacted student attainment, particularly in disadvantaged areas. The inequality impacts of interventions related to school funding, such as the National Funding Formula (NFF) policy, are also unclear. We assessed the impacts of school spending on student attainment. We further assess the impact of a change to school funding policy on geographical inequalities in secondary school student attainment in England.Methods We undertook a longitudinal ecological study at local authority (LA) level in England covering the period 2014/15 to 2022/23. Our exposure was school spending using school-level data for local authority-maintained schools and academies, aggregated by LA and adjusted for annual inflation. Our outcome was GCSE performance using average attainment 8 across LAs. Using correlated random-effects panel regression models and controlling for factors including number of teachers and proportion of disadvantaged students, we estimated the effects of school spending on educational performance at age 16. We also investigate the impact of the NFF policy and the geographical inequalities associated with school spending effects on student attainment, between schools in the most deprived local LAs and the rest of England, and the impact of the NFF policy.Results Between 2015 and 2023, average annual school spending decreased by 13% from £6397 to £5553. Over the same period, average GCSE attainment 8 scores declined by 2.1 index points, from 48.5 to 46.4. A 10% cut in school spending was associated with a 0.86 index point decrease in GCSE attainment 8 scores (95% CI: 0.59, 1.13). GCSE performance is positively associated with increasing number of teachers. A higher proportion of disadvantaged students (free school meals eligibility and special education needs) negatively impact GCSE attainment. The impact of spending cuts on GCSE performance was greater in schools located in the most deprived LAs compared to the rest of England – both before the introduction of the NFF (0.89, 95% CI: 0.54, 1.24 versus 0.86, 95% CI: 0.59, 1.13) and after (0.99, 95% CI: 0.62,1.36 versus 0.81, 95% CI: 0.53,1.09). However, post-NFF, the damaging impact of the cuts was apparent across all schools, increasing schools located in deprived areas.Conclusion Cuts to school spending were associated with decreased GCSE performance for mainstream schools across England, partly explaining adverse trends and geographical inequalities in GCSE attainment. School spending cuts had a greater impact on school performance in socioeconomically disadvantaged areas, compared to the rest of the country. More equitable school investment is critical to improve student education outcomes and reduce inequalities across the life course.",
  "authors": [
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Public Health, Policy and Systems, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Lateef Akanni"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Public Health, Policy and Systems, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Michelle Black"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Public Health, Policy and Systems, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Davara Bennett"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Public Health, Policy and Systems, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Yu Wei Chua"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "School of Public Health, Imperial College, London, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Hanna Creese"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "College of Medicine and Health, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Obioha C Ukoumunne"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "College of Medicine and Health, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK"
      ],
      "name": "GJ Melendez-Torres"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "School of Public Health, Imperial College, London, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Dougal Hargreaves"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Public Health, Policy and Systems, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Benjamin Barr"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Public Health, Policy and Systems, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK"
      ],
      "name": "David Taylor-Robinson"
    }
  ],
  "title": "P54 School funding and GCSE performance in England: a longitudinal ecological study at the local authority level from 2015 – 2023",
  "uid": "f863a335-6150-5063-94f4-5c91aabaed0c"
}