Schools - Will there be any savings?

Getting on for thirty years ago, I was one of the parent governors at our local first/middle school. It was a time of falling school rolls and at one meeting we discussed the need to reduce the teaching staff by one in order to maintain the existing pupil-teacher ratio. The local council education office representatives strongly opposed the retention of the teacher and taking this opportunity to improve the pupil-teacher ratio, as suggested by the parents.
I then asked, as someone working in industry where staff levels were strictly controlled, whether there would be a reduction of staff in the "Office" to maintain the Admin to Teacher ratio. Clearly such a thought had never entered their heads as the response was that they were having to take on extra staff to handle the redundancies. They went apocalyptic when I requested that this point should be formally noted in the minutes!

Which brings me to the Government's proposals for education reform. I just wonder how long it will be before the various Councils' education departments actually start to reduce staff and save money. Think of all the teachers and other staff whose contracts, no doubt, have to be transferred from the Council to the individual schools - surely there's work there for quite a few years.  The Council staff will no doubt be re-deployed on other duties, no doubt related to finding fault with the schools in an endeavour to bring them back under Council control.
From my experience, I think it will be years before we see any savings!..