I CAN assure Mr Foster that I have not fallen foul of any "Tory spin" regarding the school funding issues in our county.

I may be a full-time mother, but I do still have a perfectly functioning brain and am perfectly capable of forming my own opinions based on researched fact.

I have spent many hours pouring over the facts and figures - mostly from Mr Foster's Government's internet funding tables and deprivation charts and so on.

I am fully aware of what has happened to our funding since 1997.

For starters, the cash gap deficit between ourselves and the English average has trebled to £390 per child per year - not perfect under the Tories pre 1997, but a whole lot worse now.

Secondly, children in this county are funded (discriminated against) to the effect of £90 and £110 per child per year less than those in our neighbouring counties of Gloucestershire and Warwickshire.

Maybe I fell victim to the "education, education, education" spin?

HELEN DONOVAN,

St Margaret's Road,

Evesham.