Stockport Governor Association

This question was asked at a recent School Governors' meeting so
 I thought a brief summary might be in order.

Schools Forum is a body set up by statute (required by law) that must exist in every local authority. It is required to
advise the council on how all the monies provided by government for education from nursery through to
secondary are fairly distributed. This sum in Stockport currently amounts to
£150 million per year. Schools Forum comprises representatives of school governors, headteachers, teacher unions and the faith communities, from nursery, primary, secondary and special schools, vulnerable children and the academy.

It has one local council representative, but has other observers from the Council. It is serviced by Children and Young People's, Business Services and the Chief Executive's directorates. It meets many times during the year to
 receive reports on how spending on both revenue and capital monies are proceeding and how schools are managing their finances. It has recently been involved in providing consultation advice to
 government on their planned changes to education finance.

Training is provided to
 forum members to them help keep up to 
date with change. Government has indicated that, should any school forums and local authorities fail to 
agree on the distribution of government monies, then the matter is referred to
 the Secretary of State who, in any final decision, would be mindful of the views of the schools forum. This provides significant moral authority to
 schools forums and is probably a reason why Stockport Council in recent years has never discussed its schools budget when setting its spending plans.