CASH-starved East Riding schools are set to become the worst-funded nationally, plunging them into crisis.
Schools Minister David Laws has agreed to urgent talks with MP Graham Stuart next week after the council warned schools are facing "a perfect funding storm".
Council leaders have warned Mr Laws "the East Riding is faced with a schools' funding crisis here and now" after the Government's latest funding announcement.
The cash-strapped authority has shut six schools and merged 18 to cut costs, with 23 primaries sharing headteachers to save money in recent years.
Schools are also under intense pressure from Ofsted after inspectors targeted the under-performing area for rapid improvement.
Education portfolio holder Councillor Julie Abraham said: "Following the latest funding announcement, the East Riding will fall from being the third worst-funded local authority to the very worst-funded in the country, while the funding available to similar rural authorities will increase significantly.
"While our schools perform near the national average in terms of attainment, Ofsted judgments have been a cause for concern.
"How are we expected to lift our schools when they don't have the resources they need to do that?"
Cllr Abraham and council leader Councillor Stephen Parnaby sent a joint letter to the Schools Minister warning it will be "extremely difficult" for schools to make significant improvements to their Ofsted ratings on the current low level of funding.
The Government has announced an extra £350m for schools in the worst-funded authorities, but the East Riding, where nine schools are in the red, has been earmarked just £500,000 of the additional money.
The East Riding needs £9m to bring budgets up to the level of similar authorities, with schools massively short-changed, particularly for high-needs pupils.
The Schools Minister has told the council's leaders the Government would bear their comments in mind for future reforms.
But he said: "I do not accept that East Riding's funding is insufficient to raise the performance of its schools and note that schools in the East Riding performed above the national average at both Key Stage 2 and GCSE level last year."
Beverley and Holderness MP Graham Stuart, who chairs the Government education committee, tackled Mr Laws over the issue at his committee on Wednesday.
He told Mr Laws East Riding pupils were being "left high and dry" while the Government was saying of its latest funding reforms "this is making life fairer".
He will meet Mr Laws for urgent talks on Wednesday.
Mr Stuart told the Mail: "Too many schools across the East Riding are not designated good or better by Ofsted and that means children are not getting a fair start.
"It is essential that we improve schooling across the East Riding and fairer funding is an important part of enabling that to happen."
• Follow us on Facebook and Twitter
•Latest education news for Hull and the East Riding
