ONE in four schools in part of Merseyside is already running out of cash, even before the savage spending squeeze expected for the next few years.
Nineteen primary and secondary schools in Knowsley – 25.3% of the total – are predicting they will fail to balance their books this year, according to figures passed to the Liberal Democrats.
Other education authorities also reported large numbers of schools facing a cash crunch, including Liverpool (20), Wirral (21), Warrington (19) and Cheshire West and Chester (34).
Across England, an estimated 2,000 schools are in similar financial trouble, according to freedom of information responses given to the Lib-Dems.
The figures were revealed after the leak of Treasury documents suggesting Britain is braced for the harshest cuts in public spending since the 1970s – with education likely to be badly hit.
And they immediately raised fears that many schools would be forced to sack teaching staff and increase class sizes to quickly cut their costs .
David Laws, the Lib-Dem education spokesman, warned: "This is the tip of an iceberg, which is likely to emerge rapidly as the squeeze on education budgets really bites over the next few years.
"We are likely to see school cash balances being rapidly run down and we could soon be back to the bad old days of endless budget pressures and regular staff cuts."
