A parent governor at a Borehamwood school is urging county council bosses to widen their review of education in the town to include a drastic rethink on how schools are being funded.

George Menzies claimed the majority of Borehamwood schools, including Saffron Green School in Nicoll Way where he is a parent governor, face the prospect of lurching from one crisis budget to another every year.

He wants to set up an association of Borehamwood school governors to give the town's schools a stronger voice as he fears the funding situation is getting worse.

Saffron Green and other first schools have been forced to make cuts in their budgets this year, which head teachers say will bring either redundancies or reduced hours of support staff.

Despite increased spending by the county council on education, some of Borehamwood's schools claim they are not seeing any of it because it is going elsewhere in Hertfordshire.

Hertfordshire County Council, the local education authority, said increased spending is going to schools where there are growing pupil numbers, adding it is mainly schools with fewer pupil numbers, like Borehamwood, which are experiencing funding problems.

But Mr Menzies said: "There should be a review of how the whole system is funded, not just the three-tier system in Borehamwood and Elstree. Schools in Borehamwood have been running with crisis budgets. We are being funded on the basis of bums on seats but shouldn't be assessed like that in this area.

"We are one of the most ignored areas in the county when it comes to schools. We stand out for the wrong reasons -- all you have to do is read some of the OFSTED reports. They highlight the characteristic of a lot of schools in our area. It's socially deprived and above the national average for special needs pupils. Hertfordshire has got an accountant's view of our situation in Borehamwood, there are fewer numbers but they forget we have more special needs.

"It's the children I worry about. Borehamwood has probably got some of the best teachers but they are not getting the adequate tools with which to teach," he added.

"I'm contacting all the governors to try and to set up a Borehamwood and Elstree association of governors. We need to have some say in putting forward a development plan for the area. If funding is not sorted out it will get worse and the majority of schools will carry on going from crisis to crisis."

This week, however, the county council announced it will be offering parents and teachers the chance to take part in a "full and frank" public discussion, in response to the growing concerns voiced about the problems facing Borehamwood schools.

A discussion document is currently being prepared with information about pupil numbers, school places and achievement, and will set out how schools and the community can take part in a structured debate. There will be a series of public meetings after the the document's publication and the outcome will then be considered by the education committee.

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