Two Hyndburn schools have confirmed they won’t be taking up the government’s invitation to become academies.
St Christopher’s C of E High School and Oswaldtwistle St Andrew’s C of E Primary School were asked if they wanted to change school status by Education Secretary Michael Gove - who wrote to schools across the country inviting them to become academies.
If schools become academies they would be publically funded and no longer controlled by local government.
Governors and headteachers would set their own pay and conditions, including changing term times and they would be given freedom from the National Curriculum.
Mr Gove said the education policy under the coalition government was driven by the aim of closing the gap between rich and poor.
He said more than 1,772 schools enquired about academy freedoms, including 870 outstanding schools, 405 secondary schools and more than 400 outstanding primaries.
Schools rated outstanding by Ofsted will be fast-tracked through the scheme if they fully accept the government’s invitation.
The headmaster of St Christopher’s headmaster Alasdair Coates said his school isn’t eligble for the change while Oswaldtwistle St Andrew’s headteacher Tina Wilkinson said there is no desire for a switch in status.
Mr Coates said: "The view of the Church of England is that there is insufficient information available at present for its schools to make a decision. It is right to make informed decisions on such important matters as the status of an institution and so St Christopher’s has taken steps to obtain such information. This has enabled us to see that we are not eligible at present to make any change, even if we wanted to.
"It has also revealed huge gaps in the information available."
He added: "Were we to become eligible for a change of status at some point in the future, and when sufficient information is available to make an informed decision, governors, staff, parents and pupils would be consulted."
Tina Wilkinson, the headteacher of Oswaldtwistle St Andrew’s C of E Primary School, said: "I was sent an email from Michael Gove asking if we wanted to be kept informed on the latest policy on academies.
"I was surprised when I emailed back asking for more information on it, that it became public information. All I was saying is I was interested in finding out more information about academies. We weren't judged as outstanding by Ofsted and are not planning to become an academy school," she added.
Twelve schools in East Lancashire are interested in becoming academies.
New academies could be created as early as September.
Lord Hill, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Schools said: "This is a genuinely permissive policy, there is no pressure for any school to convert by September, and they can do so at any time, when they feel they are ready. We want schools to decide what's best for them, not politicians or bureaucrats."
Academies, semi-independent state schools, were first introduced under Tony Blair and were a flagship measure of the last Labour government.
There are around 200 academies already open, and the previous Labour government had planned to double this to 400, though primary schools were not included in the plans.
