Councillors battled over education funding last week, in the first stand-off of a row that threatens to boil over as squeezed budgets raise the political temperature.

Despite holding 25 of 43 seats at Monmouthshire County Council, the Conservative administration continued to take flak from their confident Labour counterparts for biting budget cuts handed down from Westminster.

At last week’s council meeting, the Conservative group’s Councillor Richard John insisted the council’s settlement from Welsh Government was some £30m per year short, given that the extra cost of running services in rural Monmouthshire was not taken into account.

The Labour group, led by Councillor Dimitri Batrouni, forwarded a motion asking for an extra £1m to funnel into ‘struggling’ local schools, a notion he said could make financial sense after the council prepared for a 2.3 per cent budget cut, only to receive a one per cent reduction. ?

?“In the last few years, the school budget has been frozen – resulting in real terms cuts. Roughly, the figures are £750,000 per year, which schools have to find,” he said. ??“We know that schools are starting to struggle. We hear it in our communities, and if you speak to head teachers, you’ll hear that, as well.

“But, we also know from the figures. school reserves are predicted to fall into deficit. Schools are expected to be £600k in the red. Schools are under pressure. Per pupil spend has dropped consistently over the last four years by £110 a head.”

Putting forward a sum of £1m to inject into local schools, Councillor Batrouni said squeezed budgets could see teaching assistants bear the brunt to balance the books.

“Schools, to the best of their abilities, are trying to make do with the budget they’ve been given. We are at a point where the schools are starting to struggle. We need to halt this. It’s not a cure-all, but a move in the right direction.”

The motion, which Labour councillors have said was the first pitched battle of an ongoing fight, was knocked down by Councillor Richard John, the cabinet member for children and young people, who said ‘throwing money’ at education was not a guaranteed cure.

“The financial challenges facing this authority are considerable. We remain the worst funded in the entire country. The settlement for next year gives us £1,100 per head. Compare that to other local authorities such as Blaenau Gwent next door – £1,581 per head.

“If Monmouthshire was funded like other councils in Wales, we would get an extra £30m per year, but it id disappointing that there is little recognition of the additional challenges we face delivering services in a rural area,” he said at last week’s meeting.

“If you look at average funding in Wales and England, England is better off by £500 a head.

“If the Welsh Government is serious about improving standards – we know Wales is currently on the floor regarding PISA standards – then they need to help us by putting money into the system. ?

?“This motion calls for an extra one million. Why that number? It might be good for a headline, but it seems that figure has been plucked from the sky.”

Councillor John freshly stamped his position after the meeting. He said:

“There are financial challenges in our schools and we will continue to work with headteachers and governors to recognise their needs and provide them with the best settlement we can – but we must balance this with our obligations to fund social care demands and avoid putting too much of a burden on hard-pressed council taxpayers.

“I pay tribute to the hard work of students, teachers, school governors and parents, who despite these financial challenges, continue to deliver some of the highest education standards in the country.”

One councillor occupied the middle ground between the warring Labour and Conservative factions, suggesting that although school exam results were deemed successful, the system may require a cash boost through a council tax rise.

Councillor Debby Blakebrough, an independent, said, “For what we put in, and what we get out, our outcomes are fantastic. But there comes to a point where efficiency can affect quality. Can we invest a little more now to carry them through?”

Although the motion was shot down in flight, an increasingly buoyant Labour group vowed to not let the matter rest, mimicking the confidence of the national opposition party’s following general election which left the governing Conservative party short of an overall majority.

Councillor Martyn Groucutt, of Abergavenny’s Lansdown ward, said the ten Labour members at MCC would continue to turn heat on their Conservative counterparts.

“I am very disappointed that the Conservative majority on the County Council has refused to put the funding of our secondary schools onto a firmer footing. King Henry VIII has made great strides in recent years. Its staff go the extra mile in their commitment and the pupils have responded very positively: it is a school with a great buzz.

“The extra million pounds that Labour was calling for in Monmouthshire schools was not excessive. It would have enabled the secondary schools to balance their books. But, instead they will have to scrimp and save as they respond to rapidly rising costs such as wages, national insurance, lighting and heating without any increase to their budgets for the last four years.

“It is not surprising that the council is forcing schools into deficits. They should be ashamed.”