HEADTEACHERS from Devon are sending a dossier of newspaper cuttings demonstrating the strength of feeling over the unfair funding of the county?s schools to Prime Minister Tony Blair and the new Education Secretary Charles Clarke.

Heads, governors and parents have been campaigning about the way the current Government funding system penalises Devon schools.

The issue was debated in the House of Commons last month on the first day that MPs returned from their summer recess and just last week Tony Blair was quizzed at Prime Minister?s Question Time by Devon MPs.

Earlier this year a delegation of heads and governors, including headteachers from Okehampton Primary School and Community College and Tavistock College, met the Prime Minister in Downing Street and handed over a petition signed by almost 60,000 Devon residents.

This highlighted the fact that each school child in Devon is worth £195 less a year than the national average.

The Government is currently deciding whether to change the way local councils are funded but three of the four options they have been consulting on would actually make Devon schools worse off.

Helen Nicholls, who is chair of the Devon Association of Primary Heads, said: ?This really is one last throw of the dice in our campaign to ensure that the

Government treats our children in Devon fairly when it comes to school funding.

?We have had magnificent support from parents across the county and the wider Devon community who think it is fundamentally wrong for our children to be funded at such a lower level than pupils elsewhere.?

She said the support was demonstrated by the fact that almost 60,000 signatures were gathered in just two weeks ? that?s just under ten per cent of the total population of Devon.

?We are also grateful for the excellent support we have had from the media in Devon, including the Tavistock Times and Okehampton Times, who have reported our fight fairly and accurately and enabled us to explain what we are trying to do to a much wider audience,? added Mrs Nicholls.

?We thought that sending a dossier of newspaper cuttings to Mr Clarke would enable him to judge the strength of feeling in Devon as he works his way into his new job and remind Mr Blair of the arguments that we made to him back in the summer.?

Devon heads are not looking for special treatment, just fair funding with their colleagues in other parts of the country.

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

In an average Devon secondary school with 1,000 pupils the £195 shortfall equates to £195,000 each year ? enough to pay for around eight teachers. In an average primary of 200 pupils the gap amounts

to £39,000.

The Fair Funding campaign has widespread backing from the Devon Association of Primary Heads, the Devon Association of Secondary Heads, the Special School Heads? Association, the Devon Association of Governors and the Devon Parent-Teacher Association.