A DEMAND that a plan to reduce school deficits approaching £9 million doesn’t impact staffing levels has led to a row among councillors.

Conservative councillors called for the report as the figure, which is the combined amount built up by schools that have spent more than they have been funded for, hit £6.9m in June.

The council’s Labour and Green Party run cabinet opposed the motion as individual schools, rather than the local authority, are responsible for staffing decisions but was defeated in a vote of the full council.

The council’s latest financial report predicts 18 of the council’s 34 schools, and its pupil referral unit, will be in deficit at the end of the financial year with the combined figure expected to reach £9.3m.

Labour’s cabinet member Ben Callard, who is responsible for finance, said he and education and finance officers, as well as the cabinet member for schools, regularly meet with the leadership of the schools in deficit.

As schools are responsible for managing their own budgets they also make their own decisions on staffing, said Cllr Callard: “The council is not responsible for staffing that is the job of school leadership and governing bodies”.

He said: “Staff account for about 85 per cent of school revenue costs and which is why we’ve given them an extended period.”

The council had also provided schools with an additional £1m, above pay and pension commitments, for the past two years said Cllr Callard who claimed funding only increased by eight per cent during the previous Conservative administration.

The motion was supported by 21 councillors, including four independent councillors, with only 19 votes against.

The motion calls for the cabinet member to bring a report, in advance of next year’s budget, on reducing the deficits which “explains how this overspend will be managed downwards without impacting school staffing levels which are critical for our schools.”