School budgets in Oxfordshire are to be cut by more than Pounds 1.7 million as education loses nearly Pounds 3 million to stay within Government spending limits.
Councillors were forced to set a new budget after Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott rejected their plea to spend an extra Pounds 6 million. The cut to budgets is almost Pounds 700,000 more than headteachers and governing bodies expected.
There will also be reductions in planned places in special schools, cuts to grants, awards and school transport. The council has also agreed to an immediate freeze on staff recruitment.
