East Riding Cabinet members point to a lack of government funding as the cause of a £23m projected deficit in it's education budget.
East Yorkshire's schools are set to overspend by £12.4m this year and the total funding deficit looks likely to reach £23m by the end of the year.
East Riding Council's Cabinet member for Finance - Councillor Nigel Wilkinson - says the deficit isn't going to improve unless central government looks again at schools funding.
Despite the projected overspend schools in the East Riding are being praised for keeping costs down.
The East Riding gets one of the lowest amounts of central government funding per pupil in the country.
The council's cabinet member for Education - Councillor Victoria Aitken - says the schools are doing great work despite the funding issues.
A budget report presented to the council's cabinet said:
"The Schools Budget, funded by the Department for Education (DfE), is projected to outturn with a net overspend of £12.4m, which largely relates to insufficient funding to support education services for pupils with high needs. Consequently, the cumulative funding deficit on the Dedicated Schools Grant reserve is projected to reach £23.2m by the end of the financial year."
"The impact of underfunding of high needs provision remains of great concern for the Schools Budget. There is a £8.7m projected overspend on high needs, representing 70% of the overall £12.4m forecast overspend. The Council has a deficit management plan which should see the deficit be recovered over the long term and discussions are continuing with the Department for Education to monitor and refine the plan"
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