YORK schools could be facing cash shortfalls of up to five times more than first thought, as the true picture of the education funding crisis emerged today.

Secondary schools could be losing out on an average of £75,000 - a five-fold increase on the initial figure of £15,000.

Primary schools could see their final shortfall being £15,000 - three times more than the original figure.

Ann Burn, from the National Association of Head Teachers in York, said: "I think everybody is hoping that the Education Secretary, Charles Clarke, will come up with the money next year. If he does not, the situation will become even more severe."

The York figures have emerged ahead of a meeting of City of York Council chiefs next week.

A report by the head of education finance at the council, Richard Hartle, said the position of schools had been made much worse because of rising costs and falling Government grants.

He said although York had received an increase in base funding, there was a reduction in Standards Funds Allocation of £1 million.

In addition, half a million pounds had been lost after the responsibility for teachers' pension contributions and nursery education grants for three-year-olds was transferred to the council.

The cost of this came to £3.5 million, but funding cover only totalled £3 million.

He said: "Taking all of the factors into consideration, we estimate that the gap between costs increases and the overall increase in funding for York schools is approximately 2.5 per cent for 2003/4.

"This represents an overall shortfall in funding of about £1.7 million, or an average of £75,000 per secondary school and £15,000 per primary school."

The report says the number of staff losing their jobs might be as high as 23 across a dozen schools, although some of this could be down to falling pupil numbers.

Mr Hartle said: "We expect the staffing establishments in many schools to be reducing further as staff that are leaving are not replaced, temporary contracts are not renewed or the hours of part-time staff are reduced."

An East Riding of Yorkshire Council spokesman said that the total budget "black hole" at schools across the region was in the order of £4 million, with some secondaries facing a shortfall of about £200,000.

A North Yorkshire County Council spokesman said school budgets were very tight, but it was not yet possible to put a figure on the average shortfall.

Updated: 10:50 Tuesday, June 10, 2003