Reduced cost for academy sponsors

Academies usually get expensive, state-of-the art buildings

Sponsors of academy schools in England are being offered them at reduced cost if they agree to fund more than three.

Sponsors used to have to put up to £2m towards the independent state schools, triggering typically £25m in government funding plus running costs.

But backers are being told that if they sponsor more than three, they need only find £1.5m apiece.

The government said the policy was not new, but a teachers' union said its approach was like a cheap supermarket.

'Reasonable'

The department's website on academies says: "Sponsors will contribute £2m towards the costs of the new or refurbished school buildings, and the government will provide the balance of the funding in line with the agreed budget."

But a spokesman said there was a long-established policy where sponsors had already demonstrated their commitment to the programme.

"Where a sponsor has already invested £6m across three academy projects, we allow them to commit £1.5m to the fourth and subsequent projects."

That remained "a significant further investment" which the government considered reasonable.

More important than the money was the successful experience sponsors brought from outside.

"Sponsors working with several academies bring the benefits of previous experience, and so represent better value for money to new projects."

'Extraordinary'

Earlier this week the prime minister said he would forge ahead with the academies programme, designed to raise standards in disadvantaged areas.

He intends to have 200 of them by 2010. There are 17 in operation so far.

A spokeswoman for the National Union of Teachers - which has always opposed the academy scheme - said the development was "extraordinary".

Echoing the concerns of the Commons education committee, she said: "Academies have no track record to justify the planned expansion."

She said the reduced cost was "an incentive that you would expect from a cheap supermarket".

"Is this a further indication that the government is having trouble finding sufficient sponsors for its proposed 200 academies? One would hope so."