SCHOOLS in the county will not get a penny extra from a multi-million Government windfall for local education authorities.

Ministers have announced that 36 councils across the country are to get a share of a £28million handout to spend on their schools.

The announcement follows complaints the Government short-changed many councils when it brought in a new way of allocating grants for education this year.

Kent County Council was among those facing one of the largest shortfalls and has blamed its 12.5 per cent council tax hike on the Government.

Now county education chiefs have been told Kent will not share in the unexpected handout.The news has outraged Conservative council leader Sir Sandy Bruce-Lockhart, who described it as a “final kick in the teeth” for Kent.

“We probably had the third worst [Government] settlement in the country and now we find out that we are to get no extra help. It is completely incomprehensible and totally outrageous,” he said.

He said it was hard to avoid the conclusion that Kent was being penalised.

“We are left with the feeling that because we have been robust with the Government in saying we think that our settlement was not enough, we have been left off the list of councils who will benefit. This is very bad news for schools and council taxpayers.”

Ministers say they have only given extra cash to those authorities. These include the Labour-controlled Medway Council, which has been allocated an additional £1.25million.

In a statement, David Miliband, the schools minister, said more money was going to a select number of councils who had received “lower than expected budgets.”