PUPILS at a closure- threatened school are "innocent victims" of a postcode lottery for education, the governors claim.
Langtoft Primary is at risk of closure after the council revealed it is the East Riding's most expensive school per pupil.
The village school near Driffield is one of three primaries in jeopardy, along with schools in Dunswell and Gembling.
The council says Langtoft is the East Riding's smallest school and costs £15,500 per pupil to run, compared with an average of about £3,500.
The council has blamed a new national funding regime for putting small schools in jeopardy.
Mark Kelly, chairman of governors for the 20-pupil school in Langtoft, said parents are shocked and distressed over moves to close the school this summer.
Mr Kelly said: "The council is looking to save money to balance its budget.
"It now seems there's a postcode lottery for education.
"The children didn't choose to live there, they have the same right as other children to go to their local school and grow up in the community. They will be robbed of that.
"They are the innocent victims in all of this."
Mr Kelly is urging the council against shutting the school this summer.
He said: "The school is the hub of village life – closing it would rip the heart out of the village.
"There is a perception that people who live in villages are affluent, that is not the case. "There are already pressures on household budgets because of the price of fuel and other costs and there is no public service to Kilham, where the council wants the children to go to school."
Langtoft survived a closure threat in 2007 and now shares a headteacher and governing body with Northfield Infant School, Driffield.
The primary's Key Stage 2 pupils attend Driffield Junior School.
Mr Kelly said: "We are financially viable in the foreseeable future. We are looking to persuade the council its decision is flawed.
"We need to put the welfare of the children first."
Mother-of-two Paula Sellers said parents are devastated by the move.
She said: "We are going to fight it. The school is not just part of the village it is part of the community, if the school goes there's nothing left.
"Not many people will want to live here if there's no school."
Mrs Sellers claimed transport to Kilham Primary would be also be a worry for parents.
She said: "I drive but some people don't.
"The council is proposing a bus with no supervising adult, other than the driver. The idea of putting a four-year-old on a bus is quite terrifying."
Governors are asking East Yorkshire MP Greg Knight and Beverley and Holderness MP Graham Stuart, chairman of the Government education committee, to back their fight to keep the school open.
Ofsted rated the primary as good.
