SCHOOLS throughout West Devon were due to throw their weight behind a county-wide protest campaign being launched at Tiverton today (Thursday).

Headteachers, governors and parents are calling on the government to give education in Devon a fairer deal.

All schools in the county are being asked to send a representative to the meeting, to demonstrate the depth of feeling about education spending in Devon, one of the worst-funded counties in the country.

And every parent will be asked to sign a petition, which will be presented to the prime minister before the end of this term.

Currently, the national average funding for each school pupil is £3,127 — in Devon the figures is £2,932.

This gap in an average-sized secondary school of 1,000 pupils equates to £195,000 — enough to pay around eight teachers.

And because of Devon's rural nature, the county is also faced with some of the highest transport bills in England. At the moment, more than six per cent of Devon's education budget is committed to transport before a single child is taught.

Brian Cunningham, headteacher at Okehampton Primary School and spokesman for the protest campaign, said: 'We are not asking for special treatment, all we want is a fair deal.

'Historically, local education authorities in London and the South East have been given more government funding because the cost of living was judged to be higher.

'But it costs roughly the same to employ a teacher anywhere in the country because of national pay scales. Books and equipment cost the same — so do most of the running costs of a school.

'Yet Devon, which has some of the lowest wages in the nation, is being penalised to benefit the well-off South East.

'It's been called Robin Hood in reverse and it's time for us to be treated fairly.'

Mr Cunningham said the campaign's aims were to get Devon's voice heard in a concerted push for fair funding, to influence government decisions, to get the high cost of providing education in the county recognised and to urge education secretary Estelle Morris to honour her commitment to bring lower funded LEAs up to the national average.

Mr Cunningham said: 'The meeting is a shop window to publicise our cause and highlight issues we face.

'If we unite together then we stand to make the greatest impact. Devon needs a fair share of national education spending.'

And Mr Cunningham said just to be brought up to the national average for funding would make a real difference to children's education in Devon.

Joe Flynn, headteacher at Tavistock Primary School, said: 'Funding is a really serious problem this year, particularly for large schools, but it really is not a large school, small school issue.

'It's about attracting more money into Devon. Children are worth less in Devon than they are in Hampshire and that's just not fair.

You talk to colleagues around the country and a school of this size would have a non-teaching deputy head — my deputy gets half a day.'

Mr Flynn said petitions forms would be sent home with children shortly, which he urged parents to sign and return to school.

The petition will be taken by a delegation of teachers to 10 Downing Street on July 16.