HEADTEACHERS and governors from Devon issued a personal invitation this week to Prime Minister Tony Blair to visit the county and see the effects of the unfair funding system on their schools.

Heads, governors and parents presented Mr Blair with examples of how the current system penalises Devon schools when they met him in Downing Street in July.

The delegation, which included heads from Tavistock and Okehampton schools, also handed over a petition signed by nearly 60,000 people across the county highlighting the fact that each school child in Devon is worth £195 less a year than the national average.

Mr Blair told the delegation that he would look at all the facts and figures and come back with a detailed response.

Joe Flynn, headteacher at Tavistock Primary School, said: ?Tony Blair promised to reply to us and so far, we have not had a response.

?We know he has rather large matters on his mind at the moment, but he did make a promise and we are holding him to that.?

Mr Flynn said the situation was ?in limbo?, as the consultation period had ended and an announcement was now awaited on the outcome.

But he said it was important to continue to keep up the pressure on ministers to introduce a fairer system of funding.

?We?ve had parents, governors and staff all writing but we still need to keep that up ? grannies, grandads ? anyone who is concerned about children?s education in Devon should still write,? said Mr Flynn.

Brian Cunningham, headteacher of Okehampton Primary School, said he was disappointed there was no response from Mr Blair so far.

He said: ?We think it is vital that Mr Blair has the opportunity to see for himself how the system currently penalises our schools before he sanctions any changes that could make it worse.?

Mr Cunningham said he was pleased there was more money coming into education generally, but the cake was still being divided unfairly.

?Mr Blair wants schools to achieve national standards. He wants to ensure that our pupils achieve at the top ? and naturally so do we ? but he is funding us at the bottom.?

Devon?s schools have already joined forces with colleagues from the 39 other worst-funded areas to campaign for fair funding for the county?s children after it was revealed they would be more than £18-million short this year.

The group ? known as f40 ? says Government proposals to alter the funding formula for education leads to a worsening situation.

The worst option would mean every Devon child being worth £264 less than the national average and the best option would only reduce the deficit from £195 per pupil to £173 per pupil.

Schools in the f40 group want the Government to adopt an Option 5 which would split the money for education more evenly between the LEAs giving a higher figure per head for each child with less money spent on top-up grants for individual areas.

They have been backed by local MPs including John Burnett, who represents West Devon and Torridge.

Parents, governors and teachers in Devon were urged to write to the Government before the consultation period ended and ask for Option 5 to be implemented.

If schools in Devon were brought up to the national average, a secondary school with 1,000 pupils would get an extra £195,000 each year ? enough to pay for around eight teachers.