BOLTON schools have been warned that swingeing cuts are looming.

Three per cent - £3.2 million - will be chopped from this year's education budget, the biggest spender in the council.

And the situation could worsen, warned officers yesterday.

Since 1991/92, £7.7 million has been chopped from education and arts.

The cuts have hit school bus passes, library opening hours, community education and the youth service. At a meeting of the education and arts committee, councillors were told any future cuts would hit school budgets which, so far, had been protected.

Bolton's director of education, Mr Brian Hughes, said letters had already been sent out to headteachers, warning of the cuts.

He said: "The simple fact is there's nothing left to cut. It's an extremely stark and serious situation.

"We have managed to protect the schools budget over the past five years but this won't be the case if our forecasts are correct. The cost will be to children. Bigger classes and fewer teachers are inevitable."

The headteacher of Tonge Moor County Primary School, Mr Phil Buckley, said: "Teachers across the borough are presently in a state of shock." " Cllr Mrs Pauline Spencer said: "There's simply no way we can make these cuts without every child in the borough suffering."

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