NORTH Cornwall Conservative Scott Mann and 110 fellow MPs have written an open letter to Prime Minister David Cameron calling on the Government to deliver school funding reform.

The MPs, working on a cross-party basis, ask the Prime Minister to implement the funding formula proposed by the F40 campaign group, which represents a group of the lowest funded education authorities in England, to ensure fair funding based on pupil need.

Under the current system, the ten best funded areas of England will receive an average grant of £6,297 per pupil this year, compared to an average of just £4,208 per pupil in the ten most poorly funded areas.

In their letter, the MPs say F40 has come up with a formula, which would see the funding cake shared much more fairly. They stated: “We believe this formula can help deliver a solution. We want the children in our schools to continue to have a broad range of subjects to study, good resources to use, well maintained buildings, reasonably sized classes and excellent pastoral support. Fairer funding is integral to all of this, and we urge you to deliver it.”

Those who have also signed the letter include former Cabinet ministers Dominic Grieve, Caroline Spelman and Cheryl Gillan (Conservative) and Ben Bradshaw and Andrew Smith (Labour), Education Committee Chairman Neil Carmichael and Commons Speaker John Bercow, in his capacity as MP for Buckingham.

Mr Mann said: “It’s a simple matter of discrimination. Why should a school in an urban area receive more funding than an identical school in a rural area? All children should have the same opportunities, and it’s simply not fair that because some may live in a rural area, that their school subsequently receives less money.

“In fact when visiting schools in my North Cornwall constituency, I have found that the challenges teachers face in small rural schools are greater because they have to deliver a tailored curriculum to children from two or three age ranges because of the class sizes and available resources.

“It is imperative that we support our rural schools and their parents and pupils, and I will continue to stand up for a fairer deal in Cornwall.”