Teachers face the sack and class sizes are set to grow in the wake of swingeing cuts being proposed by one of the country's top education authorities.

North Yorkshire County Council is considering raiding the £12.9 million extra cash which the Government has specially allocated for education.

It claims it needs the money to sink into other services like social services and highways.

If the proposal is adopted it will mean every school in Craven - which has some of the top state schools in the country - having to cut budgets by 2.5 per cent.

For South Craven School in Cross Hills, the biggest secondary school in the county with 1,700 pupils, it will mean slicing £104,200 from its spending - the equivalent of four teachers.

At Sutton Church of England primary school, which has just 80 pupils, the cuts will be £4,000.

The proposal has sparked widespread anger among governors and teachers in schools throughout Craven.

Thousands of letters are being posted out to parents from school heads and governors calling on county councillors to protect school budgets.

The Craven headteachers forum, which includes heads from South Craven School, in Cross Hills, Ermysted's Grammar School, Skipton, Skipton Girls High School, Aireville School, Skipton, and Wharfedale school at Threshfield are all supporting the move.

Craven Council was last night called on to support school governors and staff and to urge the County Council to seek cost savings without reducing school budgets.

Craven Councillor Stephen Place said: "I question the morality of the county taking one penny from that £12.9 million which has been given specifically for funding the new initiatives in schools."

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