School head threatens to quit over cash cut

An acclaimed headteacher used a live television appearance yesterday to announce that she was prepared to resign over the school budget crisis that threatens 20 of her teachers' jobs.

Dame Jean Else, the head of Whalley Range High School for Girls in Manchester, said the success of her school was at risk because of a £600,000 budget shortfall. The school is one of the most improved in the country and counts Estelle Morris, the former secretary of state for education, among its former pupils..

However, the headteacher, who was made a Dame two years ago for her services to education, told GMTV that she would "sadly" have to resign if the money could not be found. "I am faced with having to lose some of my incredibly valuable staff and cut aspects of the curriculum and I really feel it will defeat the object and I am not prepared to do that," she said.

Dame Jean fears she could be forced to lose 20 of the 165 staff and that music may have to be cut from the curriculum. She has written to Charles Clarke, the Secretary of State for Education, to protest at the budget cuts. "Obviously, I love this job," she said. "I have a tremendous staff and it's a vibrant place and the kids are brilliant." But she was prepared to "pack it in" rather than see the school suffer. Ms Morris was a pupil at Whalley Range until 1970 and visits the school regularly.

Many schools have claimed they face shortfalls despite an overall increase of £2.7bn in funding this year. Schools and local authorities have blamed the Government for the budget problems, claiming that a new funding formula reallocated money between areas. They say ministers have failed to understand the scale of increased costs facing schools this year.

However, Mr Clarke has said council leaders have failed to allocate £500m of funding to schools. He plans to publish a full analysis of each authority's budget on Friday.