A £22 rise in Council Tax could solve the crisis in Bradford's classrooms, an inquiry into school funding heard.

Independent expert Peter Downes, the final witness to give evidence on the sixth day of the inquiry, echoed many previous speakers by confirming that Bradford's schools are short changed compared with other parts of the country.

But he warned that fiddling with the funding formula to help the worst-affected secondary schools at the expense of better-off primary schools was not the answer. "You need to increase the size of the cake," he told councillors on the education scrutiny committee which has been studying school funding for the last few weeks.

Mr Downes, a former head teacher and specialist advisor on funding to the Secondary Heads' Association and the DfES, presented figures showing that Bradford was charging lower Council Tax than many similar authorities.

"You have spent less than the Government thinks you ought to have spent," he said, adding that the shortfall resulted from a Band D Council Tax rate of £1,015, instead of the £1,037 assumed by the Government.

Bringing this up to the average would entail people with larger properties graded Band E or above paying more than £22 extra per year, but most Bradford residents would be charged less, he said.

"Ninety per cent of people in Bradford are in Band D or below, and the vast majority are in Band A, so the increased tax to get you up to EFSS (education formula spending share) would be for the vast majority of people, £16 per year," he said. "If Bradford people value education, the case has got to be made for it."

He added that as an outsider scrutinising the issue, "the most striking thing" was the huge difference between some schools hugely in the red, like Rhodesway, and others sitting on six-figure surpluses, like Carlton Bolling.

Committee member Councillor Michael Johnson (Lab, Tong) said: "If we are serious we have to provide the funding so the population's educational achievement will increase."