DEVON'S schools' chief is urging the Government to speed up reforms that would see the county's children more fairly funded - and he is being strongly supported by heads, governors and parents in the county.

Devon County Council's Cabinet member for schools, James McInnes, has written to Education Secretary Nicky Morgan urging her to put the reforms in place for 2016/17.

Mrs Morgan's predecessor, Michael Gove, had moved to a fairer system of funding for 2015/16 that will see Devon's schools receive an extra £16 million this year.

That followed a concerted campaign by the county council with head teachers and governors.

But the county's schools are still millions of pounds short of what they would receive if every Devon pupil was funded at the national average.

That means every Devon child is effectively still worth £270 less than the national average, based on the county's relative position in schools' funding.

Mr McInnes says he welcomes the moves the Government has already made towards a national funding formula for schools.

But he adds: “We are not there yet. The current distribution remains flawed and unfair.”

This week Mr McInnes won the backing of the Devon Education Forum which represents head teachers in primary, secondary and special schools, governors and parents.

In his letter to the Education Secretary, Mr McInnes says: “There is no justification for disparities on the current scale when all schools are judged against national criteria - testing, inspection and league tables - and staff are paid under national pay and conditions of service.

“The current uncertainty on the future funding of schools is in no one's interests.

“We urge the Government to continue their stated commitment to redress the remaining unfairness in the school funding system.

“We strongly recommend the new formula-based approach is introduced from 2016/17.”

Mr McInnes said today he recognised the General Election was imminent but he said the issue of schools' funding was urgent enough for the Government to act before then.

“We have been campaigning for fair funding for Devon's schools for years,” he said.

“We had no action for 13 years from the last Labour Government. To his great credit, Michael Gove took action in the first term of this Government but his reforms are only partly in place.

“Schools in Devon will benefit in the coming financial year from the first stages of the reforms.

“But there is a danger that Nicky Morgan will not be in place to see them through after the General Election and that would put all this good work in jeopardy.

“Last summer Devon's schools surpassed the national average in their results for all public tests and exams from the Early Years through to GCSEs,” he said.

“They did that with grossly unfair funding that saw every Devon pupil worth £480 less than the national average.

“Just imagine what our schools could achieve if they had the cash to employ the same amount of teachers and teaching assistants as their counterparts in other highly funded areas of the country.”