Head teachers are “terrified” by a possible strings-attached funding bailout for Bracknell schools – but the council leader says there is “no choice” but to take it.

The government has offered Bracknell Forest Council a grant that could be worth £15 million to help pay for its special educational needs services in schools.

But in return, the council may have to cut back on the rest of its spending on schools – a prospect one head teacher has said is “frankly terrifying".

Bracknell Forest Council has been invited by the government’s Department for Education to apply for a “Safety Valve” grant. This is aimed at councils that have a deficit in their schools budget as they have struggled to cover the rising costs of special educational needs services.

READ MORE: St Michael’s Easthampstead primary short of £260,000

Several councils across the country have found the number of children needing special educational needs services has risen, as has the cost of providing those services.

Yet the amount of money that councils get in their annual schools grant from the government has frequently fallen short of the full amount required.

Bracknell Forest Council says its total schools spending deficit – accumulated over several years – is currently £15.5 million. But it expects this to have risen to £42.6 million by April 2025.

Under a possible bailout deal, the council could get £15 million of Safety Valve funding to help pay for special educational needs services.

But if it accepts the grant, it will have to eliminate the rest of the deficit by finding money from elsewhere. The council says this could mean skimming cash off the top of other areas of schools funding.

READ MORE: ‘Children will suffer’ from low school funding in Bracknell

Head teachers warned against the deal at a meeting of the council’s Schools Forum on Thursday, September 14.

Caroline Johnson of St Michael’s Easthampstead said: “Being a small school already in a deficit, the idea of adding another 1.5 per cent to my top slice without the ability to support the children’s ever-increasing needs that I already have is frankly terrifying.”

And Grant Strudley of Crown Wood primary said: “My take of this is that ultimately there is going to be a transfer of money from schools to pay off the deficit.

“£45,000 is the amount of money that Crown Wood would pay. That’s two teaching assistants.”

Yet council leader Mary Temperton has said the council will have “no choice” but to accept, in a meeting of the council’s Executive Committee on Tuesday, September 19.

She said: “We have to do this and people should know that there was no choice of saying no we can’t.

“The deficit has built up over many years – about a decade of years – due to underfunding. We all look forward to this with some trepidation but we will do what we have to do.”

Initial meetings between council and government officials are expected to take place on October 2.