PRESS RELEASE : New endowment fund to turn around weakest schools and raise standards for disadvantaged pupils

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 3 November 2010.

The Secretary of State for Education has today allocated £110 million to establish an education endowment fund (EEF) designed to raise standards in underperforming schools.

The EEF will distribute money to local authorities, academy sponsors, charities and other groups that bring forward innovative proposals to improve performance in our most challenging schools. Those bidding for funds from the EEF will have to outline how their proposals will raise attainment. Bidders must also demonstrate how they will be held accountable for the success of their proposals.

The announcement comes as Mr Gove hosts a visit from Arne Duncan, US Secretary of Education. Mr Duncan is here to exchange ideas with the UK Government. On both sides of the Atlantic, reforming Governments are implementing ambitious plans to transform state education. Secretary Duncan has helped introduce charter schools, the equivalent of our Free Schools and academies, to help raise the attainment of disadvantaged students. He has also made funds available to improve teacher recruitment and training.

The EEF draws on President Barack Obama and Secretary Duncan’s ‘Race to the Top’ programme, which invites states to apply for funding to trailblaze bold and innovative approaches in schools across the country.

By inviting bids from those who wish to turn round our weakest schools, the Government is also building on the transformative potential of the new pupil premium. Our most challenging schools are overwhelmingly concentrated in our areas of greatest deprivation.

The pupil premium will result in more money being allocated to support the education of all of our poorest children, adding £2.5 billion to school funding by the end of the CSR period. The EEF will allow many of the schools that educate our poorest children to do even more, and the innovative practice it encourages should drive improvement across the school system.

The EEF will be administered at arm’s length from ministers. The team administering the fund will be appointed following an open competition.

Funding for projects will come from returns on the EEF’s investment and fund managers will be able to draw down some of the capital from the total sum each year. The independent organisation that runs the EEF will also be expected to attract additional contributions from other organisations and philanthropists to add to the fund.

This fund is being established from the money that was set aside when the Government took the decision not to increase the number of free school meals. The establishment of the fund fulfils the Government’s pledge to better use this money to improve the attainment of disadvantaged pupils.

Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove, said:

The international evidence shows that we’re falling behind other countries educationally, and we have one of the most unequal school systems in the developed world. That’s why we need to press ahead with reforms which will raise standards for all children.

This new fund builds on the success of President Obama’s ‘Race to the Top’ scheme. It will make schools and local authorities compete to help the poorest. Combined with our pupil premium, the expansion of the Academy programme, more rigorous exams and tough action to improve discipline, it adds up to a comprehensive package of school improvement.

Each project will have to meet tough criteria in order to be awarded funding, and bidders must prove their innovative, bold and rigorous approaches will support school improvement. Projects can be run by schools, charities, teachers, local authorities, national leaders of education, or successful academy sponsors and principals.

The EEF is just one part of the Government’s strategy for narrowing the attainment gap between the richest and poorest pupils and raising standards in underperforming schools. The Department’s detailed strategy for tackling the weakest schools will be laid out in the forthcoming schools white paper.