A CASH crisis hitting Kent's schools could deepen next year and leave scores in debt for years to come, headteachers are warning.

The warning came as anxious county council chiefs met ministers this week to push for more cash to prevent schools from being plunged into serious debt.

Eric Spear, a former president of the National Association of Headteachers and head of Staplehurst School, Maidstone, said the Government had to act if a serious crisis was to be avoided.

He was responding to predictions by county education chiefs that some 80 schools will be in the red by the end of the financial year next March.

A further 112, according to KCC, will have less than £5,000 in their reserves to pay for unexpected costs and an unspecified number will have none at all.

Mr Spear said: “For many schools, £5,000 is a spit in the ocean. It could represent a fraction of one per cent of their budget and to fall that close to the margins is extremely dangerous. You only have to have one major thing go wrong for it to be swallowed up.”

“Those schools in that situation will be looking at next year’s budgets with considerable alarm because the situation will undoubtedly worsen. There is a crisis in many schools which will not be resolved unless there is considerable extra money.”

Schools came under pressure this year after the Government was accused of failing to give them enough money to properly fund extra costs caused by higher wage bills, pension increases and National Insurance contributions.

Although ministers told KCC that it should increase spending by 6.6 per cent in education, the authority only received enough to fund an increase of 3.2 per cent per pupil.

When schools complained, they were told by education secretary Charles Clarke to dip into their reserves to cover any shortfall.

Many in Kent did just that – with the result that some £15million has been slashed from “rainy day” funds being saved for other purposes.

Mr Spear stressed: “The only solution really is for the Government to take direct responsibility. At the moment, there is no prospect of that happening.”

His concern was echoed by Peter Vokes, of the Kent NUT. He said: “I don’t think KCC can be blamed. It is clearly a lack of funding from the Government. Frankly, I’m surprised there aren’t more schools in the red.”

Meanwhile, Graham Badman, KCC's education director, told a meeting of KCC’s Conservative cabinet this week: “The fact is that our schools are increasingly strapped for cash and are looking for alternative ways of funding.

"Kent will have to make the strongest representations to the Government [but] if the local government settlement for next year is as has been predicted, it could be serious for the standards agenda.”

His comments came as he revealed that the results of tests taken by 14-year-olds this year – Key Stage Three – suggest Kent is climbing above the national average in all subjects.

Many schools have raided their reserves to compensate for the fact that the Government has taken £8million from what is known as the Standards Fund.

This money was supposed to be ploughed back into the general Kent “pot” but KCC was unable to do that because of its cash shortfall.

Education Secretary Charles Clarke has insisted the Government will make amends next year but has stopped short of pledging to restore the money lost by schools this year.