I was dismayed to read today in the Argus that Mary Mears is "exploring options" for more academy schools in Brighton. She claims this follows the "success" of Falmer Academy, which is set to replace the fast improving Falmer school - strange as Falmer Academy won't open till September 2010! Academies remove schools from the control of parents, teachers and the local community and put them in the hands of private businesses, individuals or faith groups. £2m buys you control of a school's curriculum, staff (and their salaries), governors and building programmes.

And academies aren't delivering on their promise of better results - a recent study by the LSE (http://cep.lse.ac.uk/pubs/download/cp280.pdf) has shown that GCSE performance in academies compared to matched non-academy schools is the same. So why the need for academies? Good education is crucial, and we should be fighting to improve local schools - not selling them off.