A North Tyneside Council report has revealed four schools with a collective overspend of almost £12.5m.
Figures have revealed that Monkseaton, Norham, and Longbenton high schools and Beacon Hill school are in a "significant" deficit, totalling £12.459m. The costs are attributed to "existing" issues, with the exception of Monkseaton High School's "structural" costs.
Monkseaton High has the highest deficit at £5.546m, while Norham's is £3.984m. The deficit at Longbenton High is £1.697m and at Beacon Hill School, it is £1.232m. The council says the situation is being "monitored closely".
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The figures prompted North Tyneside’s Young Mayor Cameron Quinn, 14, to speak about the importance of school budgets and the challenges schools face with funding, while the council's deputy mayor of North Tyneside laid the blame on central Government funding, saying the answers to school funding would not be found in council budgets.
Coun Carl Johnson, deputy Mayor of North Tyneside said: "There are schools that run a deficit and that is because they are chronically underfunded by the current Government. That is the reality of the situation.
"Schools have been underfunded since 2010, money has been diverted to the wrong priorities for education, forcing the wrong things. We have seen the tragic events recently where a headteacher took their own life because of the pressure of Ofsted regime in schools.
"The situation where teachers are buying their own supplies is disgraceful and has been happening for a long time. Even if the council was to give 'x' more to any school, they probably wouldn't spend it on that sort of thing because there are so many things wrong with schools, supplies would be far down the list.
"Teachers need a pay rise, but if a pay rise is taken out of the school budget, an unfunded pay rise, it would be even worse for education. They would be given with one hand but taken away from what the school can spend on the other hand. It is a shocking situation in education we are in at the moment and the reality is the only way to resolve this is a Labour Government."
