SWINDON Council's new education chief is set to demand a meeting with the Government over the funding crisis facing Swindon's schools.

Coun Garry Perkins (Con, Shaw and Nine Elms), is set to be sworn in as the lead member for education today along with the new cabinet at a full council meeting.

He has written a letter to Education Secretary Charles Clarke, which he will send when he officially takes up his role on Monday.

And Coun Perkins will enclose a story that appeared in the Evening Advertiser on May 3 to illustrate the confusion surrounding the education budget.

The story said that Mr Clarke had written to Swindon Council accusing the Local Education Authority of withholding £2.3m of its budget from schools.

This has been strenuously denied and Coun Perkins has requested the meeting because he says he is not prepared to face similar confusion next year.

He said: "It is a major step to take on my first day in the job but I am doing it because Swindon has been underfunded for years.

"We were promised more funding last year but it has not arrived.

"The Government praises Hackney Council for raising standards, but it has almost twice as much money as we do. Give us twice as much money and see what we can do.

"The Government spin machine is out of control. Now no-one believes what anyone says."

Headteachers in the town are warning that class sizes could start to rise because they cannot afford to take on new teachers, and the town's GCSE results will not improve unless the funding issue is addressed.

Swindon Council pumped an extra £6m into education this year through raising the council tax.

That provided an extra £73 in funding per pupil, but £4m of that was swallowed up by the Government's increased National Insurance costs, lost grants and rising teacher pay.

Pupils are now getting an average of £3,350 each in Swindon compared to the national average of £3,690.

For an average secondary school in Swindon with 1,200 pupils that would mean it receiving £400,000 less in funding than a similar size school in Bristol, where funding matches the national average.

Mike Welsh, head of Goddard Park Primary School and Swindon Secretary of the National Association of Head-teachers said: "The Government is giving schools more money and then taking it straight back away again."