by political editor Paul Francis

Dozens of Kent schools will be able to break away from Kent County Council and join a new generation of semi-independent academies this year under radical Government reforms to the country’s education system.

But the sweeping changes have already triggered misgivings at County Hall, with both Conservative and Liberal Democrat county councillors voicing concerns about the impact of the changes.

Education secretary Michael Gove has unveiled proposals that will allow schools rated as "outstanding" by Ofsted to be fast-tracked to academy status by September, should they want it.

Kent has around seven non-selective secondary schools in that category and around fifty primary schools.

Grammar schools will not be able to become academies because of their selective admissions policy.

The new generation of academy schools would be able to secure academy status – giving them greater freedom over budgets, the curriculum and admissions – regardless of whether the education authority opposed it.

The far-reaching shake-up has already drawn warnings that it could lead to a further fragmentation in Kent, undermining co-operation among schools, intensifying competition and lead to academies poaching staff by offering higher salaries.

Cllr Jenny Whittle, KCC's deputy cabinet member for children, families and learning, warned she was concerned a new wave of academies would make it more difficult for other schools to recruit staff.

She said: "I am all in favour of giving schools more autonomy but we need to see more detail [from the government] and make sure that no school would be disadvantaged.

"We need to find ways of enabling other schools that are not outstanding to recruit teachers in shortage subject areas.

"We do not want to disadvantage our National Challenge schools which are generally making good progress."

She played down concerns that there might be less co-operation among schools but warned: "We do not want schools to work in isolation."

But she said the government needed to give assurances that in granting schools academy status, the county council did not inherit and long-term debts they had.

Cllr Martin Vye, Liberal Democrat education spokesman, said he feared the reforms would split schools and warned they would escape proper scrutiny.

"If you create schools that do not have any representation from the local council on their governing bodies or have no ties to the further education, there will be less accountability and scrutiny.

"Issues like admissions will move out of any democratic oversight."

He added: "If you speak about giving schools greater freedom, there is more chance that they will seek to take in more children through the appeals process."

Kent already has ten academy schools and is developing plans for a further five. In many, the county council acts as a co-sponsor, allowing it to retain some influence on the schools’ boards.