ST HELENS North MP Conor McGinn says the Government has broken its promises after figures emerged revealing the town’s schools face budget cuts of almost £9 million by 2019.

The cuts are the equivalent of £386 per pupil and could mean losses equivalent to 238 teaching posts in the borough, according to figures on the ‘School Cuts’ website. The figures, calculated by teaching unions NUT and ATL, have been described as “misleading” by the Department for Education.

Mr McGinn says he is writing to every school in his constituency and pressing Education Secretary Justine Greening to explain the “crippling cuts”.

The cuts will be the outcome of the ‘schools funding formula’, which was outlined by Ms Greening in December.

But, says McGinn, schools across St Helens are set lose up to £8.9m by 2019.

According to School Cuts, Cowley International College will lose most – with an £855,019 drop in funding by 2019 – the equivalent of £745 per pupil and the cost of employing 22 teachers.

Hope Academy would be next worst hit with predicted cuts of £419,301 by 2019 – the equivalent of £416 per pupil. Haydock would face cuts of up to £403,311 – the equivalent of £636 per pupil.

When it comes to primary schools, Bleak Hill would lose most with cuts of £169,267 by 2019 – the equivalent of £393 per pupil. The primary school facing the biggest funding cut per pupil is Allanson Street in Parr – with cuts of £410 per pupil by 2019.

Mr McGinn said: “When the education secretary announced the new schools funding formula she claimed many areas like St Helens would benefit and the system would be fairer.”

He described this as a “broken promise”, adding: “More than 200 of our dedicated teachers could find their jobs at risk and young people will see their opportunities reduced with funding cuts per pupil of £386.

“I will be demanding an explanation from the education secretary about the damaging impact of these cuts and why she is short-changing the children, young people, teachers and wider community.”

The teaching unions say they used DfE data to calculate cuts to schools over the 2015-2020 Parliament.

A DfE spokeswoman admitted schools are facing “cost pressures” but added the School Cuts figures are “misleading” as they are “based on our numbers but with eight per cent subtracted to reflect inflation over the next four years”. She said: “Funding for schools in St Helens would go up by 1.6 per cent, over £1.6 million, if the proposed new funding formula was implemented.”