Schools across the district were today poised on the edge of a new era as councillors selected an outside partner to take over the day-to-day running of education services.

The executive committee unanimously approved Serco QAA as its preferred partner for Britain's biggest education contract.

The firm would receive about £210 million over the next seven years - provided standards are raised in schools, many of which hover at the bottom of the education league tables.

The organisation will take over support services including information technology which are currently supplied by the local education authority.

A team from the company will next week begin working alongside the council to prepare the ground for the formal handover of services and the transfer of staff at the end of July.

Details of the contract will be agreed over the next few weeks before the Department for Education and Employment confirms the decision.

The company's principal business is the provision of management services to the government. Last year it acquired Quality Assurance Associates, a company at the forefront of the new education agenda providing services across Britain to central and local governments.

Most of the 800 staff will be transferred to the new company, but some will remain in key positions connected with the management of the Bovis project working on the massive schools reorganisation converting from three to two tier education.

Other functions will include the education budget, and early years and child care.

Serco QAA's performance will be monitored by the full council and regular reports will go to the executive committee and education scrutiny committee, which also has school and community representatives. Both committees are open to the press and public.

The decision to bring in an outside partner was taken after an Ofsted inspection of the local education authority which found serious inefficiencies and concluded it was failing Bradford's school children.

But from the start it has been heavily criticised by staff and unions who say it is a costly experiment which could be a disaster for Bradford's pupils.

Council leader councillor Margaret Eaton said: "This is a major milestone in the future of education in Bradford. The development of a strategic partnership represents a completely new approve to providing education services."

She said the company's task would be to ensure that schools received the best possible services and support in order to improve children's achievements quickly.

But councillor Ralph Berry, Labour education spokesman, warned that it should not just be a "change of letterhead and paint above the door."

He said: "If that happened, it would be the most expensive recruitment exercise ever to have happened."