A COUNTY Durham schools body has written to a Government minister demanding to know where more than £3m worth of funding for its schools has gone.

Durham County Council Schools Forum, an independent body made up of headteachers, school governors and trade unions has written to School Standards Minister and South Shields MP David Miliband, claiming the Government still owes them millions of pounds in funding.

The education authority says it has lost £3.37m from the Standard Fund Grant.

Among other things, the Standard Fund Grant money pays teachers' wages. Consequently, the Durham County Council Schools Forum blames the Government shortfall for forcing it to axe 58 full time teachers and 38 full-time classroom assistants.

The letter to the Government states: "Staffing reductions of this magnitude will affect the quality of learning for a lot of children in Durham schools."

Clerk to the forum, Paul Jackson, said the Government contribution to the Standards Fund Grant had to be matched by the local education authority and while the local authority is still making the contributions, Central Government is not.

He said: "We're trying to pin them down. We're just trying to make a point. We lost £3.37m from the Standard Fund grant and the money didn't come back to us, so the point we're making is 'don't do this again' because there is a significant risk they might take more grants away next year."

When the row over central funding for schools first broke out several weeks ago, the Department for Education and Schools blamed the Local Education Authorities for the funding problems.

The Government said it was up to them to change the way they funded individual schools, claiming budgets were now calculated so each child receives the same level of basic funding.

A spokeswoman for the department said: "The Government made changes to the funding system, changes that many had argued for and were consulted on, so that each child now attracts the same level of basic funding, whereever they live.

"However, individuals school budgets have also been affected by some of the spending decisions that LEAs have made.

"If LEAs do not adjust the way that they fund individual schools to take account of Standard Fund changes, then this may cause difficulties."