I WAS somewhat concerned at the headline 'Education Meltdown' in your edition on Friday, May 23.

While I have no objection to the content, nor to the comment in the actual report, the headline was misleading and might have caused unnecessary concern to parents and schools in the area.

The facts of the matter are as follows:

Teacher redundancies: Only one of the seven schools mentioned is currently engaged in redundancy procedures for teachers, although one other may have to consider this at a later stage.

Class size: While this is acknowledged as a parental concern, in only one school is there a definite indication that this is likely to be an effect. Two of the schools in fact state that they will not be increasing class size.

Huge debts: While some schools have had debts, in all but one case schools are indicating that their deficits have fallen considerably over the last year.

Funds for teachers: Two of the schools in your article specifically state that they have increased funds for teachers, but this is not reflected in your headline.

Governors cap pupil numbers: This is the case in only one school, which is a voluntary aided church school, and where the governors made a perfectly proper decision with regards to their admissions policy. It is misleading to suggest that this is the case across all seven schools.

Forced curriculum changes: This is simply not substantiated in the body of the articles. One school talks of "as yet unspecified changes, but the range of subjects open to students will not be affected" and another refers to "some slight alterations" in the sixth form curriculum, which are compensated by partnership with another school.

Schools spent years in deficit: Once again, the impression of a significant number of schools spending several years in deficit is not borne out by the evidence. Some schools are running deficit budgets, for reasons which are explained in the article but, with only one exception, are reporting significant decreases in their levels of deficit.

In Wiltshire, the local education authority, schools, and the schools forum have been working hard to maximise the levels of funding available to schools.

With a 10.9 per cent increase in funding devolved directly to schools, Wiltshire was the third highest of all shire counties in the figures recently produced by the DfES, and the highest of all its comparator authorities. We are not complacent about the issues raised in your report, and the need to continue to work with the Schools Forum to increase the level of funding which is available to schools.

However, misleading headlines, such as yours, distract attention from the very real gains which have been made by Wiltshire schools in the current financial year, and risk demoralising teachers and parents alike.

B WOLFSON

Director, Department for Children, Education and Libraries

J SCOTT

Cabinet member, Children, Education and Libraries