A PETITION demanding the end of continued under-funding of the county's schools was delivered direct to Tony Blair at Downing Street by headteachers from West Devon on Tuesday.

And in an unexpected move, the Prime Minister came out of No 10 to meet the delegation of headteachers, parents and governors, which included Tavistock Primary head Joe Flynn, Okehampton Primary School headteacher and campaign spokesman Brian Cunningham, and Okehampton College head Chris Powell.

More than 56,000 signatures were collected on the petition calling for fair funding for Devon schools.

Mr Blair listened for a couple of minutes as the teachers explained their case for fairer funding and he promised to look into the matter further, before heading to the House of Commons.

Torridge and West Devon MP John Burnett, who arranged the Downing Street visit, said getting Tony Blair to speak with the teachers had been a 'fantastic coup' which gave them hope for a real breakthrough in funding.

Fair Funding for Schools organisers said they were pleased to have the chance to explain to Tony Blair in person the funding disparity schools in Devon faced.

Tavistock Primary head Joe Flynn said he had been very pleased with the day's events.

He said: 'It is virtually unheard of for the Prime Minister to come out in person. It was a really great bit of timing and we were able to give him our message.'

Mr Flynn said if the Government fully-funded the high cost of school transport in Devon and increased school funding per pupil to the national average as the campaign was urging, it would increase his school's budget by more than £100,000, which would be a 'significant amount of money' to benefit the education of children .

Campaign spokesman Brian Cunningham said: 'We must get Devon's voice heard. Let's get funding for Devon schools on a level playing field.

'We are not looking for special treatment, just fair treatment.'

The delegation met Devon MPs at the House of Commons to enlist support for the campaign before heading to Downing Street to hand over their petition at 3pm.

Mr Burnett arranged the Downing Street visit, and buttonholed Mr Blair's communications director — and former Tavistock Times journalist — Alastair Campbell about the issue while the petition was being handed in.

Mr Burnett said he had been campaigning with a cross-party group of MPs to redress the funding balance in education.

'For 25 years we have been discriminated against as far as education expenditure is concerned, and successive governments have done nothing about it,' he said.

Mr Burnett said the delegation was able to bring home to the Prime Minister the impact the large school transport costs in a rural county like Devon have on the education budget.

'We have a huge school transport bill in Devon, for primary schools and secondary schools,' he said, and he urged the Government to review its school funding formula.

Mr Burnett also said the way central government measured deprivation when calculating education funding levels tended to favour the big cities, and did not fully take into account problems faced in rural areas by smaller populations.

The campaign aims to highlight the disparity in funding of educational authorities across the country. Currently, the national average funding for each school pupil is £3,127. In Devon, the average funding is £2,932 — a gap of £195 per pupil.

In a secondary school with 1,000 pupils that equates to £195,000 —enough to pay for around eight teachers.

As a largely rural county, Devon faces one of the highest school transport bills in the country.

It currently stands at £17.5-million, which means more than six per cent of the education budget is committed before a single child is taught.

The Government provides £12.8-million towards the school transport bill, leaving a shortfall of £4.7-million.

Campaigners say if the cost of school transport was fully funded centrally, this would allow an extra £50 per pupil to be spent in schools.

Campaign organisers said they wanted to thank all the parents, governors and teachers who signed the petition, and had made it such a success in a short period of time.

The petition comes at the start of a consultation period on local government finance. It was launched following the publication of a consultation document by the Government.