Michael Gove is quiet about free schools

Two hundred and eighty one bids were submitted to open new free schools this September, yet the department of education is only planning to fund for 50. Out of the fifty approved, four are no longer in discussion (meaning they will not be built), while around half are still in discussion or seeking sites, although these schools are due to be open September 2012. The Guardian states that by any measure - whether the government wants to address the need for school places or use free schools to raise standards - less than fifty new schools this September is a poor outcome for such a vaunted policy.
So why is the ambition to create free schools being placed on halt? Bureaucracy is one answer, says the New Schools Network, the charity which helps free schools while lack of cash is an even bigger barrier to the expansion of free schools.


Although free schools designed and - in some cases - run by parents, teachers, or charities have proved a modestly popular idea with the public - But there are increasingly signs that the education secretary, Michael Gove, is lowering his sights for the free schools programme.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/mortarboard/2012/apr/18/free-schools-michaelgove