Free school (England)

[3][a] Like all academies, free schools are governed by non-profit charitable trusts that sign funding agreements with the Education Secretary.

[6][7] It is possible for a local authority to sponsor a free school in partnership with other organisations, provided they have no more than a 19.9 per cent representation on the board of trustees.

[32] Wave 1: In the autumn of 2010, Education Secretary Michael Gove announced that 16 proposals for free schools had been given a green light by the Government and were expected to open in September 2011.

[42] Waves 5,6,7: In March 2013, the Department for Education announced the application schedule for groups wishing to open free schools in 2015 and beyond.

[48] Wave 9: In July 2014, a further funding round was announced for the period immediately following the 2015 General Election, with proposals being invited for submission from 8 May 2015.

[57] The Labour Party have expressed their opposition to this and said that if elected they would require teachers in academies and free schools be "properly qualified".

[58] When the free school policy was first announced, some commentators offered advice to potential proposers,[59] while others expressed scepticism that the concept could be made to work at all.

"[67] Peter Wilby, writing in The Guardian, predicted that free schools would be run by private companies rather than parents, teachers or voluntary groups.

[72] A warning by the National Union of Teachers (NUT) that the policy would "fuel social segregation and undermine local democracy" was reported in The Daily Telegraph.

[73] The Education Secretary accused free school opponents of subjecting supporters to personal attacks and even death threats.

[79] In April 2014, following publication of a leaked document 'Future Academy System' prepared for schools minister Lord Nash, critics claimed that failing free schools were being given special fast-track attention by the government to limit potential embarrassment to Michael Gove, the Education Secretary at the time.

The leaked document stated that the "political ramifications of any more free schools being judged inadequate are very high and speedy intervention is essential.

[50] The 2015 Labour Party election manifesto proposed banning the creation of free schools in areas where there was a surplus of places.

[81] The free school concept has been described as a government obsession which should be abandoned as a failed experiment; the joint general secretary of the National Education Union (NEU) said in 2018: "The government should hang its head in shame at this monumental waste of taxpayers' money at a time when schools are severely underfunded".

[83] The schools have proven to be unexpectedly expensive, with the government being taken to task for failure to do due diligence on sites and to publish an accounting of costs.