Schools forum meaning

A schools forum is the local consultative body through which maintained schools are represented in decisions about distributing state school funding within a local authority area. In practice, it comprises representatives of all maintained schools (headteachers and governors) and, in England, academies and specified non-schools members (such as early years providers and diocesan bodies). It scrutinises and advises on the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG), local funding formulae, growth funds, central retentions and transfers between funding blocks; in defined areas (for example, de-delegation for maintained schools) its approval is required. The local authority must consult the forum annually on school funding proposals, but the forum does not set the overall schools budget. In England, a schools forum is a statutory body constituted under section 47A of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 and the Schools Forums (England) Regulations 2012 (as amended). In Wales, the analogous body is the school budget forum constituted under Welsh regulations. The term is not used in Scotland, Northern Ireland or Ireland, where school funding consultation is handled through different mechanisms. Accordingly, “schools forum” should be treated as an England-specific concept in legal drafting and advice.