Swindon Council is ploughing extra cash into its schools but not as much as had been hoped will be used for raising standards.

Council leader Kevin Small claims they are getting almost £6 million extra funding, but only £2.2 million will actually reach headteachers' budgets.

Almost £4 million will be swallowed up by inflation on teachers' pay, increased National Ins- urance contributions, and lost grants. The budget is to be debated at tonight's meeting of the Education Partnership Board.

This will give the headteachers £2.2 million to share, which means an extra £72.66 per pupil.

It works out at an extra £80,000 for a medium sized secondary school with 1,100 pupils. A medium sized primary with 200 pupils can expect an extra £15,000.

The town's headteachers have long campaigned for more money since Swindon is one of the worst funded local authorities in the country.

And while Coun Small (Lab, Western) claims the £6 million is all new money, it is believed headteachers, although diplomatic in public, are disappointed to see so much money swallowed up in red tape.

Paul Kohn, the head of Liden Primary School who represents primary heads on the EPB said: "It seems as though they are giving us money with one hand and taking it away with the other. However we must be fair and state the council has stuck to its promise to give schools more money, this is new money and we are grateful for it."

Coun Small backed up his claim that all of the cash counted as new money when he explained that in some local authorities schools were expected to find the money to pay for pay and pensions increases out of the old budget. "Education is one of our most vital services," he said, "we have a duty as society to educate our young so they can take their place in the community."

Peter Wells, who sits on the EPB on behalf of the town's secondary heads, said: "The borough has put in £6 million to education £4 million will be spent on covering the increasing costs in schools and £2 million will go on initiatives that will raise standards.

"At the end of the day there is £2.2 million available which can be spent on improving schools and we must all welcome that."

Mr Wells said he would spend the extra cash allocated to his school, St Joseph's, to increase the resources reaching pupils and support teachers as they continue to lift performance.

Swindon Council's Conservative group leader Coun Mike Bawden (Con, Old Town & Lawns) insisted it was not new money.

He said: "With the payments of National Insurance we are just moving the furniture around and at a meeting of the cabinet I suggested we should meet the town's MPs as soon as possible to talk about next year's funding situation.

"The headteachers have now got the opportunity to show us the results they can produce with this £2.2 million and I look forward to seeing the town's results improve."