A SHORTFALL of more than £300,000 is predicted for Ysgol Aberconwy over the next two years.

Conwy council’s education and finance overview and scrutiny cttes will consider the best course of action to deal with the problem next week.

The principal causes of the shortfall are the repayment schedule for a private finance initiative (PFI) agreed in 2003 to fund refurbishment of a significant proportion of the school site and a temporary decrease in the school’s intake of pupils which has affected funding. The PFI repayment schedule stretches over 25 years, of which 11 years remain.

The committee will be presented with three options to deal with the problem. They are:

to make up to seven teachers or 12 support staff, or a combination of the two, redundant. The school governors do not feel this will provide a satisfactory standard of education to the families of Conwy.

The second option, which is favoured by the governors, is to temporarily restructure the PFI payments.

The third option is to let the school to run a deficit during the next financial year. This would allow it to maintain current staffing levels into the foreseeable future, but would set a precedent for other schools.

Cllr Garffild Lewis, the cabinet member for education, said he had considered the report in detail. He said: “Having spoken at length to the headmaster and one of the school governors, I am happy to support the request to temporarily reschedule the PFI payments.”

Cllr Sam Cotton, who serves both as an Ysgol Aberconwy governor and on the ctte said: “The headmaster presented a report to the governors on the financial position and recommended the payment rescheduling option, which the governors wholeheartedly supported. I hope the members of the committee will see this as the best option as well.”

Another cllr who also serves on the ctte and is a governor of the school, Emma Leighton-Jones, said: “The school is in a very difficult position. The PFI repayments have increased and it is difficult for it to find the money. I think the school has taken the right decision to appeal to the scrutiny ctte for help. I hope the ctte will support its chosen option, it would be remiss of the ctte not to agree to the preferred option.”