THE Government is cheating Worcestershire schoolchildren out of a better education, according to the county's director of education.

The accusation comes days after the education directorate was named and shamed for not passing on enough funds to schools.

But Julien Kramer, insists the Government is doing the short-changing.

"Had we had a £10m settlement we would have met the target more than generously," said Mr Kramer.

"We only missed the target by .04 per cent.

"We know we are a well-run council and we know we give good value for money - Estelle Morris said it.

"We know we give good quality services at low cost. The idea that we're cheating schools is absolutely crazy.

"We're delivering good services on the cheap.

"We're being cheated and it's a con."

He said the other authorities named and shamed by the Government were also under-funded and part of the campaign group F40.

"We've got the same National Curriculum as everyone else, the same targets, same national pay scales and the same curriculum materials to buy," said Mr Kramer.

"How can we manage on £10m less?

"We're between £150,000 and £450,000 short a year in the city.

"That would buy between five and 10 teaching assistants, good quality computer systems and smaller class sizes.

"It's grossly unfair.

"I think there's an injustice here. It makes it harder for our schools to do the job our Government wants them to do.

"Please can we have more money?"

Worcestershire County Council's Education Directorate was named in a list of 33 authorities failing to hit the mark of passing on at least 87 per cent of funding to schools.

An average of £2,515 per pupil is getting through to schools in Worcestershire, which is below the average for upper-tier authorities of £2,584.