EDUCATION in Worcestershire is missing out on £10m a year - enough for an extra teacher in every school - fair funding campaigners have claimed.

The parents' group has now issued a rallying cry to other mums and dads, urging them to bombard Westminster with letters demanding a "fairer" system of allocating school cash.

Although there has been millions more pumped into county schools during the past eight years, far more money has been given to other LEAs.

The £10m effective "cash gap" would pay for either:

286 teachers, one more for every school;

625 teaching assistants, two extra per school;

OR

20,000 computers or 67 per school.

"In many smaller first schools, we cannot afford to employ specialist teachers - in some cases not even fully-trained teachers," said Phil McTague, from Worcestershire's Secondary Headteachers' Association.

"In more affluent authorities they can afford, for example, specialist music teachers to teach instruments from a younger age.

"We are conforming with the law but with more low-level activities."

He also said there was a brain-drain effect with top staff leaving Worcestershire because, in some cases, wages were twice as much in Birmingham.

Accountants in the 40 worst funded LEAs - the f40 group - have now completed an alternative funding formula, which they hope the Government will adopt next year.

A letter from f40 will land on every headteacher's desk on Monday morning, and parents, teachers and school governors are being urged to write to their MP, Education Secretary Ruth Kelly and Tony Blair, asking the Government to consider the formula.

The campaign has been co-ordinated by parents Jonathan Pearsall - a father-of-four, and governor at Rose Hill School in Warndon - and Helen Donovan, whose children attend St Mary's RC Primary School in Evesham.

"We've never been concerned about the league tables," said Mr Pearsall.

"It is a totally non-political campaign - we just want all parties to agree to consider the new system when it comes up for review next year."

The Government is now consulting on a Green Paper.

Pupils are now £534 worse off

UNDER the Government's complex cash formula, each Worcestershire pupil att-racts, on average, £3,440.

This is £680 more than in 1997 - but the difference between what pupils in Worcestershire receive and what the average pupil receives has mushroomed.

Eight years ago, the county was just £224 below the national average.

It is now £534 below par - relatively worse off - because other LEAs have received far more money than Worcestershire over this period.

"We are providing good education on the cheap and we are an award-winning LEA," said Jonathan Pearsall.

"Imagine what we could do with an extra £10m."

Help out

To change the system so Worcestershire pupils get fairer funding, parents are being asked to help bombard Tony Blair, their local MP and Education Secretary Ruth Kelly with letters.

Either download your copy from the f40 website at www.f40.org.uk, or wait for your headteacher to send it to you in the post.

The consultation period ends on May 5 and all letters must be received by May 3.

HOW WORCESTERSHIRE CLASSES COMPARE WITH BIRMINGHAM FINANCIALLY

In Worcestershire - the lowest-funded LEA in the region - schools:

Have "vertical age grouping" - this is where pupils from different year groups are taught in the same class, often because there aren't enough teachers.

Parents must organise fund-raising activities to buy equipment - it took one school five years to collect enough to install an interactive whiteboard

Parents volunteering to help out as secretaries for free

A lack of specialist teachers, such as music staff, in some of the smallest primary schools. In some cases staff are not yet fully trained.

In Birmingham - which has the best-funded LEA in the region - schools:

Can afford to pay twice as much for specialist staff - £23,000 as opposed to £11,000 in Worcestershire - to improve behaviour and cut exclusion rates

Take technology, such as lap top computers and interactive whiteboards, for granted

Can offer specialist teaching, such as music lessons, to pupils in first schools

Attract county teachers, who live in Worcestershire but work in Birmingham, because they are able to offer better facilities and higher wages.