Christian parents in East Sussex could be faced with bills of hundreds of pounds if they want to send their children to church state schools.

Council chiefs in the county have followed the lead of West Sussex County Council by proposing to withdraw funding of transport for the pupils.

Each year the county council pays for buses, trains and even taxis to carry 1,334 children from Christian backgrounds to their nearest faith school. Now it hopes to save more than £585,000 a year by axing the service.

Councillor Keith Glazier, responsible for children's services, said: "The decisions we make on this issue will have an impact on what savings we need to make and what services we provide."

The move has infuriated religious leaders and church schools who have fought similar proposals in West Sussex since they were announced in November.

East Sussex said at that time it had no immediate plans to axe the services.

Frank Myers, education director for the Catholic diocese of Brighton and Arundel, said the moves could prevent Christian families who have several children or who come from poor backgrounds from sending their youngsters to a faith school.

The councils have provided the service for more than 60 years since an agreement was struck to use church-owned school buildings. They give church school pupils free transport if they live more than three miles away. For some children the nearest faith school is some distance away and the cost of travel could be prohibitive. East Sussex pays an average of £385 a year for each pupil's transport.

Schools in East Sussex to be affected include: St Richard's Catholic College in Bexhill, Annecy Catholic Primary in Seaford, Rodmell CE School, St Thomas a Becket Catholic Infant and Juniors and The Bishop Bell Church of England School in Eastbourne, St Richard's Cath-olic College in Bexhill, St Philip's Catholic Primary in Uckfield, St John's Meads Church of England in Eastbourne, St Pancras Catholic Primary in Lewes, St Mary's Catholic Primary in Crowborough and St Mary Magdalene's Catholic Primary in Bexhill.

Children from East Sussex also use the services to travel to schools outside the county, including Cardinal Newman Catholic School in Brighton and St Paul's Catholic College in Burgess Hill.

The county council has launched a full consultation to ask residents whether all of the services should continue.

Coun Glazer said: "We have to consider whether the current arrangements are fair and applied equally to everyone."

He said most parents who chose not to send their child to a local school had to pay transport costs and it could be argued that it was unfair parents of children who attended denominational schools received help.

Coun Glazier said: "We have had to spend significantly more than planned this year on school transport because costs are increasing well above inflation.

"If we cannot save money on school transport, we will have to find savings elsewhere."

Leaflets will be sent to all parents and, from February 19, information and the questionnaire will be available at www.eastsussex.co.uk The consultation will end on March 23 and the issue considered by the council Cabinet on May 1. Any changes would take effect from September 2008.