MANY North-East children are receiving a second-class education due to massive inequalities in school funding, The Northern Echo can reveal.

The Government formula for spending means some schools receive tens of thousands of pounds more than similar sized schools in neighbouring towns.

Last night, fed-up teachers warned: "Enough is enough."

In an unprecedented move, all Darlington's seven secondary headteachers have united together to reveal for the first time their battle to maintain standards in the face of "woefully inadequate" resources.

Writing in today's Northern Echo, the headteachers say that Darlington's funding is seriously behind other authorities and say their teachers are being stretched to their limit.

"We believe that the drive for increased standards in our schools is being put at serious risk and we can no longer stand by and see it happening," they write.

"In all of the Darlington schools, hard decisions are being made about the quality of the building, the books that are needed and the number of teachers that we can employ to do the basic teaching.

"The problems which lie in wait for an under-funded education service are those which could quickly cause damage to the education of children in Darlington.

"We feel that the situation is very serious and we have joined together to express this."

The headteachers' decision to speak out will cause further embarrassment for the Government, coming only weeks after Durham County Council appealed for help to head off a hefty council tax increase.

The authority, which includes Tony Blair's Sedgefield constituency, received no extra money.

Basic school funding figures show that Darlington pupils receive £2,350 per year from the Government - £250 per pupil less than a few miles away in Middlesbrough. The picture is worse when compared with similar schools in the South, where pupils can receive up to £450 more.

Additional Government cash is available to schools in deprived areas through Education Action Zones or the Excellence in Cities scheme. Inner cities also benefit more than rural areas, and authorities in the South tend to receive more cash because costs are higher.

But Darlington misses out because it is not classed as socially deprived.

A spokesman for Darlington Borough Council said that since Darlington had become a unitary authority in 1997, education spending had increased by 39 per cent, which equated to £12m.

"This has brought about real improvements and we are well ahead of our Tees Valley neighbours in national league tables for achievement," he said.

But headteachers David Henderson, Richard Appleton, Eammon Farrar, Linda Hartley, Shelagh Potter, Jim O'Neill, and Sue Byrne say that increased standards have come at a price.

"The teachers in the classrooms have been plugging the holes left by woefully under-funded educational provision for the town, a poor relation of its nearest neighbours."

Phil Willis, Liberal Democrat education spokesman, also MP for Harrogate in North Yorkshire, said: "The baseline funding is unfair and it is an issue that affects a significant amount of schools throughout the country."

Elaine Kay, principal officer with the National Union of Teachers in the North-East, said the basic schools funding was "woefully inadequate".

"There needs to be a massive injection of cash in schools so there are no schools feeling disadvantaged."

A spokeswoman for the Department for Education and Skills said funding had increased by £540 per pupil on average since Labour had come into power.

But she admitted: "We recognise that headteachers and local education authorities have to make difficult decisions about spending their budgets.

"We also recognise the inequality in the local authority funding system and that some areas get more than others, which is why we have committed to reviewing the funding formula. This will take place over the next year and a half."