A Uttoxeter education boss claims a cash injection into the town's schools will be insufficient to meet steep increases in running costs.
Last week it was announced schools in the Uttoxeter area would all get more money as part of a new national education funding formula.
The town's MP Andrew Griffiths has said the extra funding "should go a long way to making a difference to school budgets" between now and 2020.
Thomas Alleyne's High School's budget will rise 4.5 per cent during that period.
But the chief executive of Uttoxeter Learning Trust (ULT), the academy group running several schools in town, says it will still experience a hefty real-terms loss.
Mike Osborne-Town said: "The latest proposals are better for the Uttoxeter schools than the original ones, but not by much.
"No school will now get less than currently because of the proposed changes, but the gain for some of the schools is no more than £5,000. Only Alleyne’s gains significantly.
"While such improvements are welcome, they do not make up for the increased costs to schools over the next three years, which amount to around eight per cent of school budgets on average.
"These costs are because the government is not funding any pay increases, increases in national insurance and pensions costs, or inflation.
"So, while the increases in income are better than nothing, they are not enough to cover increases in costs."
ULT was set up last year so several Uttoxeter area schools could become academies and be managed by one organisation.
Currently part of the trust are Alleyne’s, Windsor Park Middle School and Picknalls First School, all in Uttoxeter.
Oldfield’s Hall Middle School, Uttoxeter, Ryecroft Middle School, Rocester, Hutchinson Memorial First School, Checkley, and All Saints First School, Church Leigh, will be joining in January 2018. Mr Osborne-Town says others may follow next year.
Trust bosses believe sharing resources - including teachers - and best practice can save money and improve teaching as school budgets feel the pinch.
And this more efficient approach will be vital in making ends meet in the next few years, according to the trust's chief executive.
He said: "We are trying to make efficiency savings through joint procurement and some shared staffing in the multi-academy trust.
"All of the schools in the trust have been working closely together for the last 18 months, both converting to academy status and helping each other to improve education for Uttoxeter pupils.
"What’s really brilliant is that all of these schools have seen improvements in their exam results in the last 12 months.
"In fact, Alleyne's' GCSE results have been in the top 20 per cent in the country for the last three years.
"And they’ve kept to their belief in a broad, all-round education by continuing to offer lots of music, drama, sports and other extra-curricular activities.
"That’s really exciting and shows what we can do when we collaborate and support each other.
"We’re on a high. I don’t think you’ll find better schools anywhere in the country."
Under the new funding formula, an extra £1.3 billion will be invested in the education system during the next two years.
Cash has been spread more evenly across the different areas of the UK to address what has been described by teachers as a "postcode lottery."
Primary schools will get a minimum of £3,500 per pupil, while it was announced in July secondary school would get at least £4,800 per pupil.
This will take the government's overall core funding for schools to £43.5 billion, with more funding for pupils with "higher needs".
But education professionals across the country have echoed Mr Osborne-Town's view that the extra cash is not enough.
Speaking to education publication Schools Week, Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said schools needed an additional £2 billion a year by 2020 to beat inflation.
He said: "The £1.3 billion comes with the caveat that it is one-off funding split over two years, recycled from elsewhere in the education budget.
"The Institute for Fiscal Studies reported that all this additional funding does is to reduce the real terms cut from 6.5 per cent to 4.6 per cent between 2015 and 2019."
The cash our schools will receive in the next few academic years
Dove First School, in Rocester, received £401,000 this year. It will get £409,000 – up 2.1 per cent – next year and £418,000 – up 4.8 per cent – in 2019/20.
Hutchinson Memorial First School, in Checkley, got £348,000 this year. It will get £353,000 – up 1.6 per cent – next year and in 2019/20.
Oldfields Hall Middle School, in Uttoxeter, got £2.013 million this year. It will get £2.022 million – up 0.5 per cent – next year and £2.031 million – up 0.9 per cent – in 2019/20.
Picknalls First School, in Uttoxeter, got £945,000 this year. It will get £949,000 next year – up 0.4 per cent – and £953,000 – up 0.9 per cent – in 2019/20.
Ryecroft Middle School, in Rocester, got £917,000 this year. It will get £932,000 – up 1.7 per cent – next year and in 2019/20.
St Augustine’s First School, in Draycott in the Clay, got £253,000 this year. It will get £257,000 – up 1.4 per cent – next year and £260,000 – up 2.8 per cent – in 2019/20.
St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School, in Uttoxeter, got £700,000 this year. It will get £703,000 – up 0.4 per cent – next year and £706,000 – up 0.8 per cent – in 2019/20.
St Peter’s First School, in Marchington, got £307,000 this year. It will get £312,000 – up 1.7 per cent – next year and £317,000 – up 3.4 per cent – in 2019/20.
St Peter’s First School, in Alton, got £271,000 this year. It will get £276,000 – up 1.8 per cent – and £280,000 – up 3.4 per cent – in 2019/2020.
JCB Academy, in Rocester, got £2.353 million this year. It will get £2.365 million – up 0.5 per cent – and £2.376 million – up one per cent – in 2019/20.
Richard Clarke First School, in Abbots Bromley, got £480,000 this year. It will get £487,000 – up 1.4 per cent – next year and in 2019/20.
Thomas Alleyne’s High School, in Uttoxeter, got £3.671 million this year. It will get £3.775 million – up 2.8 per cent – next year and £3.836 million – up 4.5 per cent – in 2019/20.
Tynsel Parkes Primary Academy, in Uttoxeter, got £575,000 this year. It will get £589,000 – up 2.4 per cent – next year and £603,000 – up 4.9 per cent – in 2019/20.
Windsor Park Middle School, in Uttoxeter, got £1.469 million this year. It will get £1.490 – up 1.5 per cent – next year and in 2019/20.
All Saints First School, in Leigh, got £248,000 this year. It will get £253,000 – up two per cent – next year and £257,000 – up 3.6 per cent – in 2019/20.
All Saints First School, in Denstone, got £340,000 this year. It will get £346,000 – up 1.9 per cent – next year and £353,000 – up 3.9 per cent – in 2019/20.
Doveridge Primary School got £370,000 this year. It will get £378,000 – up 2.1 per cent – next year and £379,000 – up 2.4 per cent – in 2019/20.
Figures for St Mary's First School, Uttoxeter, were not included in the government's funding table.
