GRANT-MAINTAINED schools will get a further year’s help adjusting to the new funding framework. Their budgets were protected this year to avoid unmanageable changes once the sector is abolished in the autumn. Education Secretary David Blunkett has now promised schools a minimum increase in funding of 2.5 per cent, although most will receive more. The Grant-Maintained Joint Monitoring Group last week claimed councils were withholding more than pound;60 million intended for schools.