A ROW has broken out over claims that teachers are facing the sack as a result of budget cuts across Trafford.

But council leaders insist that they have increased the overall education budgtet by £5 million and some schools are losing money because of change in their legal status.

They said grant maintained schools like Ashton On Mersey School are suffering because they are now foundation schools.

Meetings have already been held with teaching staff in two departments at Sale Grammar School.

Ashton-on-Mersey School - the biggest school in Trafford with a £2.7 million budget - is reeling from a £95,000 cut back.

Governors at Green Lane School at Timperley and Jeff Joseph Technology College, Sale Moor, also claim to have been hit - by £30,000 -and £35,000 respectively.

Chris Lynch, a governor at Sale Grammar School and a Conservative councillor, said: "Compulsory redundancies have been discussed - we are talking about sacking teachers."

Council deputy leader Cllr Pauleen Lane insists the budgets for schools in grant maintained and former council schools in Trafford has increased. She said "For example Green Lane High at Timperley has had an increase of £87,000 bringing their new budget to £1.5 million - an increase of 6 per cent."

Cllr Lane added: "We are not in the business of 'sacking' teachers for financial reasons.

She said: "Overall funding for former authority secondary schools has risen by 5 per cent and for former grant maintained schools by 3.9 per cent."

"Unfortunately some people do not understand the changes and this may have allowed a misleading impression to be given about schools funding.

"Trafford has a no compulsory redundancy policy. Where schools have experienced significant losses in pupil numbers then changes in staff are being managed by early retirements and, possibly, voluntary redundancies."

Cllr Chris Lynch, a governor at Sale Grammar School, said: "The school needed £2.812 million just to stand still - in fact we got £2.805 so there is a real terms a cut in funding.

"I accept the council increased funding overall and some schools may be better off. But a lot of the money went on reducing class sizes which, in Trafford, was not really necessary.

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.