SCHOOLS across Worcestershire have £19 million stashed away in reserves - with the county council's leader suggesting the campaign to secure fairer Government funding is being undermined.

Councillor Adrian Hardman has waded into Worcestershire's decade-long crusade by accusing some schools of keeping "high" sums of money held back for "a rainy day", saying he feels the job of county MPs is being made more difficult.

But your Worcester News can reveal how the Conservative leader's comments have infuriated headteachers - who have called it "nonsense" and "amazing".

Today the county council formally agreed to stick with the current school funding formula for 2016/17, meaning most primaries and secondaries will see little change to their support next September.

During a cabinet meeting to agree the status quo, Councillor Adrian Hardman said he'd found out the reserves fund for maintained schools tops £19 million, revealing that it works out at "£380 per pupil".

He said county MPs' vigorous efforts to secure a better offer from the Government - with Worcestershire still languishing a lowly 148th from 151 areas for early years' schools cash - is being made all the harder because of it.

"It's very difficult for our MPs to make a case when they've got reserves which I consider to be on the high side," he said.

He also told the cabinet the funding formula's stability - a complicated matrix used to firm up which school gets what - should encourage them to use more of their reserves next year.

"It's a considerable sum of money some schools are holding back, either for jolly good projects or a rainy day," he said.

During the cabinet meeting Councillor Hardman paid tribute to Worcester MP Robin Walker for his lobbying on fairer funding, which helped get the county an extra £6.2 million last year.

He also said during his time at County Hall school funding had "deteriorated", agreeing Worcestershire needs better support.

"The school funding formula has been a topic for debate for as long as I've been on this council," he said today.

"At the core of this is, in the 90s and noughties we were around the middle of the table but our position deteriorated and at one juncture, we found ourselves to be very near the bottom of all LEAs (local education authorities)."

He said despite the extra cash last year "it does put considerable pressure on the minimum core funding levels" to be so lowly ranked.

"What we need is more base funding into the system so we can really deliver all the things the formula demands of us," he said.

After today's meeting, Mr Walker said: "I hear what Adrian is saying and it's nice he's paying tribute to me, but we need to stand that argument about reserves to one side.

"The crucial thing is that we get fairer funding, that's the DFE's (Department for Education's) priority and my priority too.

"I've only just been talking to Nicky Morgan today (the Education Secretary) about the need to deliver on that fairer funding, it's in our manifesto so we've got to do it.

"I understand why headteachers need reserves, having spoken to them it may be for a TA if someone is off sick, maybe they're saving up for a big capital project.

"I'll never criticise a school for having reserves."

He said bringing up the reserves was "unhelpful" to his quest to try and secure more cash.

Last year's extra money did bring Worcestershire up the league table for the Designated Schools Grant, the main source of money - but it still sits 123rd from the 151 local education authorities in that category.

Last year after vigorous campaigning the Government agreed to hand out an extra £390 million to the worst-funded parts of the country - with the promise of serious national reform in the years to come.

The move today to stick with the current funding formula was backed by 88 per cent of schools during consultations over the summer, although only 37 from 226 of them responded.

The main theme they impressed upon was stability - as ripping up the current formula to devise a new one at County Hall would result in some winners and some losers - a risky option which failed to find support among the school community.

HEADTEACHERS' DISMAY

HEADS in Worcestershire have reacted with dismay to the reserves plea, saying in many cases the money is earmarked for spending anyway.

Neil Morris, from Christopher Whitehead Language College in St John's, Worcester said: "It's absolute garbage - we're already at crisis point in Worcestershire.

"We've got reserves of about £400,000 but it's all allocated to building work, all that money is being spent.

"We need £7 million anyway for our school buildings just to maintain them.

"Within two years all our reserves will be gone and we'll be bankrupt - he knows this.

"I've sent him a letter pointing out how bad our funding is, we actually lost out in last year's funding formula by £90,000."

Sean Devlin, the headteacher at Blessed Edward Oldcorne Catholic College in Battenhall, Worcester added: "Yes, we have a 'carry forward' (reserve money) but I'm hoping to get a new £620,000 science lab, once we get that we'll be down to just two per cent of the budget.

"It's nonsense. None of our MPs have said this, I find it amazing - you don't hear it from Robin Walker or Harriett Baldwin.

"What nobody can get away from is that we need a new national funding formula which is fair to everyone.

"We've been talking about this forever, I came here in 2001 and we were talking about it then."

He added: "I do agree that we should stick with the current formula though, I'm on the schools forum and I don't know if we would win or lose if it changed."