Cherie's aide leads fight against Labour school cuts

Parents and teachers protesting against the Government's school funding package, which they say will lead to drastic cuts, have a formidable new ally.

Fiona Millar, Cherie Blair's personal assistant and the partner of Tony Blair's right-hand man, Alastair Campbell, is spearheading a campaign in her own education authority against the cuts.

She is urging parents to write letters of protest to education ministers, and has challenged an assertion by the Education Secretary, Charles Clarke, that local authorities are withholding funds from schools.

Ms Millar is the chair of governors at Gospel Oak primary school in Camden, north London, where she sent her three children. Her youngest, aged eight, is still there.

In a letter co-written with the school's head, Alan Seymour, Ms Millar urges parents to oppose the new funding package, which will leave the school short by £127,000.

"Although we will do our best to maintain standards, we cannot guarantee that the quality of education will not suffer," she writes. "In particular, it is our most needy children who stand to lose most because we will not have the staff to provide the same level of extra support.

"We believe the Government has not thought through the implications of all its changes for some of the neediest schools. Parents can protest in many ways. For example, letters of protest need to be written."

In an interview with The Independent on Sunday, she added: "I cannot opt out of my responsibilities to the school, and that's to get improvements that the Government wants. One of those things is to get more adults in the classroom – classroom assistants – and that's one of the things that will have to be cut. I am not protesting about government policy. I think the policy has been excellent and the school has seen the benefits of that, which is why we are so disappointed. A lot of schools in Camden have been affected by this and are upset by this."

Teachers and governors argue that increased funding for schools fails to cover the increase in teachers' pay, the rise in national insurance contributions and an increase in teachers' pensions. Dorothea Hackman, the chair of Camden governors, said non-essentials such as Blu-tack and Sellotape were already scarce across the 57 schools in the borough, which was facing a cut, in effect, of 13 per cent. The Labour council is supporting the lobbying of education ministers, including David Miliband, who went to Haverstock school in the borough.

The problem is reflected nationwide, according to Neil Davies, chair of the National Governor's Council. "We are getting complaints from all over England," he said.

Mr Clarke has accused local authorities of withholding £500m from schools.

But Ms Millar responded: "That's not true in Camden. Camden has found an extra £1.5m from its reserves, but that's not enough."

A spokesman for the Department for Education and Skills said Mr Clarke stood by his statement.

"From the data we have been collecting from local education authorities, we think there is a significant amount of money to be allocated to schools," he said. "After local election polling day we will be publishing a detailed analysis. We cannot discuss individual cases."

Meanwhile, the Government and local education authorities are both blamed for the threat of teacher redundancies this summer, in the first in-depth study of this year's school budget crisis which will be published later this week.

A survey of more than 100 schools by the Secondary Heads Association will conclude that "both the Government and some local education authorities are at fault".

The Government is blamed for failing to take account of rising school costs when it boasted that Gordon Brown's comprehensive spending review would result in record investment in schools.

The report will acknowledge that there is more money in the system in real terms than in previous years – 11.5 per cent extra when costs have risen by 10.5 per cent. However, the Government's attempts to introduce a new formula for spreading resources more fairly has led to thousands of schools being forced to make huge cuts.

The report also reveals that some local education authorities failed to pass on all the money they got from Whitehall for education, spending it on other departments such as social services instead.