EDUCATION chiefs have been reassured there will be no repeat of this year's school funding crisis, the Evening Press can reveal.

Letters have been sent to City of York Council and North Yorkshire County Council by Stephen Crowne, a senior official in the Education Department.

Mr Crowne admits they have faced a "difficult challenge" to set school budgets after a one-off hike in teacher pension payments, increased National Insurance payments and new funding rules.

The letter says: "We are committed to learning quickly from all of this experience, and to putting in place better arrangements for next year.

"We are currently working hard with government, local authorities and other stakeholder colleagues to make changes which address directly the issues that have arisen this year."

Ministers initially blamed local councils - claiming funding had gone "missing" and was not getting through to schools. Education Secretary Charles Clarke demanded to know why £1 million earmarked by City of York Council for schools had failed to reach head teachers.

Mr Clarke made the same demand for North Yorkshire County Council to explain why £1.5 million had gone "missing".

Head teachers were then given permission to raid repair budgets in an attempt to prevent threatened teacher redundancies.

But in his letter, Mr Crowne accepted schools and council officials had faced difficulties beyond their control.

He said: "Although we have seen large cash increases overall this year, the cost pressures have been substantial. We know that the budget-setting process has been difficult, and still poses challenges in some areas.

"We know that many authorities and schools have faced up to difficult decisions, backed by a great deal of hard work, in setting budgets, on the basis of our commitment that better arrangements will be in place next year."

Mr Crowne pledged that next year there would be a "sufficient" funding increase to ensure a "sufficient" sum to pay for every pupil's education.

He said there was also "confidence that schools and pupils will receive the money intended".

The letter urged education chiefs to continue to do everything in their power to avoid sacking teachers. It said it is "clearly vital to continue to focus on the implications for the school workforce - to try to ensure that decisions on short-term costs do not cut against the longer-term development of schools."

Updated: 11:10 Thursday, June 12, 2003