THERE are several questions which parents, teachers and governors should ask on the question of opting out:

What reasons are being given for considering opting out?

Will the proposed change improve the education of all the children in the school, now and in the future?

Since there are no provisions for schools to opt back in, is it certain that this is the best way forward?

Opting out gives government quangos power over your school and your child, is this what you want?

If the intention is to avoid reorganisation or to preserve the school's status, is it certain that this reprieve will last?

Where can parents and teachers turn to for help if they are not happy about something?

Is it to avoid education funding cuts? As MP Gillian Shephard pointed out in her now famous letter about government education cuts, "the effects are being felt by grant-maintained and council schools alike."

Not only are many governing bodies of grant-maintained schools struggling with difficult case settlements, but in some areas they are set to join their county school counterparts in refusing to set balanced budgets.

All eight Tory MPs voted for the South of England schools to get £100 per child more than Lancashire children.

The Tory Lancashire MPs had the power but not the will, words are cheap, but what children need are deeds.

If Lancashire schools had the £100 more per child, there would have been no cuts or needs for redundancies and no need for opt out schools.

DON YATES, County Councillor, Lancashire County Council, County Hall, Preston.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.