The state of funding of education in Bradford is a cause for considerable concern. Yesterday we reported that the district had topped the Department of Education and Employment's national list of local authorities which are spending less on education than the Government says they should. In Bradford's case that amounts to £71 per pupil per year below Whitehall guidelines.

This is very worrying in a district where many schools put up a disappointing performance in the league tables. Surely they need every penny of the money which is supposed to be provided for education under the complex formula which is used to work out the standard spending assessment (SSA).

And now the heads of all the district's upper schools, in an unprecedented move, have got together to challenge the allocation of funds they expect to be given under the new two-tier system and are writing to the parents of every pupil to explain their concerns about underfunding.

Their action cannot be dismissed as self-interest or scaremongering. Nor can it be seen as an attempt to "spoil" the schools review, the aims of which they support. The heads' concern is that they will be unable to afford to employ enough teachers to make the reorganisation the educational success which they believe it has the potential to be.

The creation of larger classes is not what the schools review is supposed to be about. Whether the system be three-tier or two-tier, Bradford's education finances - complicated by the Section 11 issue - are in a mess. The time is surely drawing near when the DoEE must step in and insist that it be sorted out.

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