A SCHOOL governor says a successful primary school in Darlington is having to cut back on teaching staff because of a funding crisis.

Colin Telfer, a governor at Reid Street Primary School, and a campaigner for the Liberal Democrats, also said the school had been advised to use its Capital Expenditure Budget to meet teaching costs.

He said two experienced teachers were being lost out of a total of 19. They were being replaced with a newly-qualified teacher who can only work 90 per cent of the timetable.

"The school has an excellent reputation as one of the best in Darlington and it has a good Ofsted record," he said.

"As a parent and governor I would hate to see standards fall because of increased class sizes due to less teaching staff.

"There is a funding problem there. The school was having problems finding money for books next year."

A spokesman for Darlington Borough Council last night denied there was a funding crisis and said the school's budget had been raised by 11 per cent this year.

Teachers and governors say the rise is being swallowed up by extra costs, such as the rise in National Insurance.

Headteacher Anne Ferguson said last night: "My job is to manage the budgets and get the best possible value for money. Reid Street finds itself in a situation of having to review staffing because of increased costs and a reduction in funding, specifically for infant class sizes.

"Two experienced teachers were leaving to take up posts elsewhere so it seemed prudent to replace one with a newly-qualified teacher and not replace the other.

"The newly-qualified teacher, because of the studies, is only expected to work 90 per cent of the timetables. This is always the case."

The council spokesman said: "Reid Street had one teacher extra than usual anyway so the loss of one teacher is not a crisis.

"The newly-qualified teacher will be teaching for 90 per cent of the time but this is standard practice.

"All schools and other establishments have to deal with the extra demands of the rise in National Insurance contributions."

Stephen Harker, the council's cabinet member for education and who is also a governor at Reid Street, said: "This is not a funding crisis. To say so would be to unnecessarily alarm parents. There are extra costs to meet this year but these have been balanced by the increase in the budget."