THE Shadow Education Secretary, Mr David Blunkett, yesterday said he
did not plan to give parents a choice as to whether their children's
schools should remain grant maintained.
He dismissed a report that Labour would allow parents a vote on
returning to local authority control.
That was not an option favoured by himself, or the Labour leader, Mr
Tony Blair, he said.
Labour plans discussions with the heads of grant maintained schools in
the new year about the kind of ''local democratic framework'' to which
they would want to return.
This olive branch, offered soon after Mr Blunkett took over education,
worried some party colleagues, despite protests that abolishing grant
maintained status remained party policy.
Labour traditionalists feared that in seeking to make the party
electable, its new leadership might offer more to the million parents
who had chosen to remove their schools from local authority control.
Disquiet exploded into a full-scale row when it was disclosed that Mr
Blair had applied to send his 10-year-old son, Euan, to the opted-out
London Oratory school.
Yesterday, Mr Blunkett appealed to colleagues to ''give me time and
trust me'' over the grant maintained schools review.
He said: ''We are a long way off coming forward with options for the
future, which will only be possible once we have had discussions with
all concerned.
''I am ruling nothing out. I genuinely want open discussion about
finding solutions,'' he said.
Mr Blunkett also said: ''It is an anomaly that parents can opt out but
they cannot opt back.''
But he added: ''I am not personally opting as a solution for parents
being able to vote not to opt back into local authority control.''
Asked if it was a possibility favoured by Mr Blair, he said: ''No.''
The guiding principles behind the party's review are known to include
equity of funding for all schools and local authority powers to plan
school places and determine admissions policies.
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