A LEADING headteacher today warned that education standards would slip unless more money was pumped into the coffers of cash-strapped schools.

Nigel Jepson, chairman of the Lancashire Association of Secondary School Headteachers, spoke out after a meeting of 60 members slammed the government's funding settlements for the next year.

He said he feared cuts in teaching posts as well as resources like books and equipment, despite promises by the Government last year of £590million nationwide in extra spending.

And Mr Jepson, head at Haslingden High School, added: "The only area in fact where there will be increases is class sizes."

The association has called on parents and the community to back their campaign and put pressure on local MPs.

Concern is growing that a shortfall in funding arriving at school level as of September means there will be serious knock-on-effects.

Blame for a shortfall first landed at the education authorities' doors with an accusation that there was £8million of hoarded cash at Lancashire county council.

Lancashire County Council LEA has since claimed the blame lies with three issues.

lFirstly a transfer of financial responsibility from the LEA to the Learning and Skills Council for sixth form provision led to a reduction in money

lAdded to that was inadequate DfES funding for performance related pay for school heads and deputies.

lAnd the Standards Fund which covers the cost of Newly Qualified Teachers was discontinued.

According to the DfES, the fund for NQTs was ended this year on the request of LEAs and the money was transferred to a general fund to be redistributed at the discretion of the local authority.

But Mr Jepson, who is also head of Haslingden specialist college in Broadway, said: "Instead of boosting resources a reduction is taking place which will harm standards for the future and have a detrimental effect on the education of young people in East Lancashire.

"The way money is being allocated to schools is now divisive. Funding principals are no longer consistent or equitable.

"Money is offered on a short term basis which is totally whimsical. At our school we could take on extra staff thanks to extra funding but in two years time we could be making redundancies because the cash might have dried up."

A spokesperson for the DfES said: "There was ample money allocated to LEAs to cover the cost of pension increases and changes in performance related pay.

"The money was allocated at LEA level to be passported on to schools."

Education Secretary Charles Clarke has told schools to use money ear-marked for school capital improvements to pay teachers' wages.

"That is nothing short of robbing Peter to pay Paul - a knee-jerk reaction that is totally inappropriate," added Mr Jepson.

Lancashire County Council's cabinet member for education, Coun Alan Whittaker, has now requested that every school submits a budget prediction.

He said: "While there are one or two that predict to have a deficit there are no indications of any redundancies."