THE number of Sussex schools looking to cut staff has grown more than ten-fold as they try to cope with an “unprecedented” funding crisis, The Argus can reveal.

More than two dozen East Sussex schools are beginning redundancy talks while a Brighton primary school is considering cutting 18 of its 30 teaching assistants.

Schools in debt have also doubled in just two years with more than 30 across the county coping with deficits of up to £250,000.

Struggling schools have had to turn to councils for more than 60 hardship loans with £1.6 million of support issued since 2012/13.

Unions said they could not rule out strike action with the situation worsening and many more schools set to cut backroom staff, teaching assistants and teachers over the upcoming year.

It comes as dozens of parents are campaigning to save the job of one of those threatened, Hove Park School PE technician Mark Pulling. The school, which had a deficit of more than £268,000 in 2015/16, said it had no option but to take action to secure a sound financial basis.

Protests have been staged at many other schools including St Luke’s in Queen’s Park Rise, Brighton, pictured, and campaigners have more action planned.

Figures obtained by The Argus show a vast imbalance between the financial health of schools with others boasting seven-figure reserves.

In Brighton and Hove, the number of schools in the red has risen from six in 2012/13 to 11 over three years while seven East Sussex schools applied for permission to run a deficit in 2016/17 compared with three three years ago.

The number of West Sussex schools in the red, 13, has more than doubled between March 2014 and March 2016, the most recent figures available.

Phil Clarke, NUT national executive member and East Sussex teacher, said: “This funding crisis is unprecedented.

“We have seen a ten-fold increase in the number of teachers facing redundancy or potential redundancy. Teacher redundancies are very rare, we would normally get a couple of schools a year. This year we are overwhelmed, in East Sussex alone we have around 25 schools making redundancies.”

GMB Mark Turner GMB said: “In my 33 years dealing with local government, it has never been this bad for the education system. Margaret Thatcher stole my milk but she didn’t take my teacher, this is beyond Thatcher.”

Save Our Schools campaigners in Brighton have launched a fundraising bid so every school can fly banners outside their front gates showing the scale of the funding shortages they face. The group is aiming to raise £4,000 to pay for the banners at 71 schools. To support visit crowdfunder.co.uk/save-our-schools-uk-1.

EVEN THOSE WITH LARGE RESERVES WILL RUN OUT

PLEAS to parents to bring in stationery and toilet rolls, warnings of schools no longer staying open for five days and threats to staff jobs are all clear signs the county’s school funding crisis is deepening.

Now The Argus can reveal new figures which show the scale of the difficulties schools are facing.

In the past financial year, 12 schools in West Sussex, one of the worst-affected areas under the current funding formula, have required almost £225,000 in emergency funds. A further 13 schools had their requests rejected.

In total 47 hardship loans have been given out over the past four financial years by West Sussex County Council, totalling more than £662,000.

That rises to 151 grants totalling £1.23 million to cover all financial support the authority has had to give schools suffering a range of difficulties including falling into special measures.

NUT national executive member Phil Clarke said strained finances were having an impact on staff and pupils.

He said: “It has been a lot worse than we had feared and this is just the tip of the iceberg. Subjects like dance and drama are being cut and there have been big cuts in support for special educational needs pupils and increasing class sizes.

“Next year we will see a lot more schools facing potential redundancies, not just of backroom staff and teaching assistants but teachers as well. We have schools that are managing their finances incredibly carefully but even schools with large reserves will run out of money soon.”

The GMB told The Argus its services were in demand at Brighton and Hove schools. The union began consultations on up to 25 job losses for support staff last week including at one primary school where up to 18 of 30 teaching assistants face redundancy.

GMB branch secretary Mark Turner said other schools were trying to reduce hours or renegotiate pay. He said: “This is pretty unprecedented in terms of numbers. Consultations are also starting at other schools for job losses for teachers.

“In the main though it is support staff at risk because teachers are part of a national bargaining which means their terms and conditions are sacrosanct whereas support staff have agreements locally.

“We are losing experienced support staff and it will affect children. Some with disabilities could be forced to leave mainstream schools and go into special schools.”

The Government claims school funding is at an all-time high with £40 billion committed nationwide in 2016-17. But the National Audit Office says schools face £3 billion in spending pressures by 2020 with Brighton and Hove schools facing a £14 million cut according to campaigners.

Mr Clarke said: “The Government is being incredibly dishonest by simply saying there are record levels of funding for schools. That is irrelevant if costs and the number of pupils are going up.”

The number of schools in debt in the city is rising and so is the scale of debt. In 2012/13 St Joseph’s RC Primary School had the biggest deficit of £68,425. Three years later the city high was £268,314 at Hove Park School.

In comparison, 14 schools in the city have more than £100,000 in the bank with Cardinal Newman the wealthiest with more than £715,000.

However these schools are seeing their bank balances slashed. Varndean and Cardinal Newman had balances of £1.5 million as recently as 2013/14. Cardinal Newman headteacher Dr James Kilmartin said: “The funding positions of individual schools can be due to a whole range of reasons. Costs will inevitably increase with inflation. At the same time there is no guarantee core funding will increase in line with inflation. We will need to rely on historic reserves in the short term while additional funding from elsewhere is sought and ways to offer the same service for less cost are explored.”

The contrasting fortunes of finances is also evident in East Sussex where some struggle to make ends meet while others have very healthy reserves.

At the enviable end of the scale is Heathfield Community College whose balance was £1.24 million in 2013/14 and £816,000 12 months later. The figures may come as a surprise to some as headteacher Caroline Barlow has been at the forefront of campaigning for better funding. She said she spearheaded the campaign in her capacity as chairwoman of the East Sussex Headteachers group.