IT’S not uncommon for schools to complain about a lack of cash but it looks like they could face genuine problems if an unexpected funding shortfall is not sorted out.

The villain of the piece is not Kent County Council but the Learning and Skills Council, a Government quango in charge of deciding how much school sixth forms and colleges should get to run their courses.

But the Government is also facing awkward questions as it appears it was responsible for under-estimating how much schools and colleges would need.

In Kent, the shortfall for schools is an estimated £3.4million – an average of £40,000 for every one of the county’s 86 schools that have sixth forms.

Ministers appeared to fail to recognise that at a time of recession, more teenagers would be likely to stay on in full-time education rather than chance their arm in an increasingly precarious jobs market.

This has been denied with education secretary Ed Balls talking about a “surge” and rejecting opposition Conservative claims that he knew about the looming crisis back in November.

Either way, the Government will not want to risk looking parsimonious to schools in an election year. I suspect schools, who are pretty shrewd when it comes to making their point about funding will be losing little time reminding ministers and MPs about this.

THERE seems no prospect of a breakthrough in the impasse between Kent County Council and the Audit Commission, which labelled it negligent in a report on its investments in Icelandic banks as we reported this week

To recap, KCC has lodged a formal complaint with the Commission, complaining bitterly about the “negligent” tag.

The Commission has stood by its report and its findings. KCC says it remains in “disagreement” with the Commission but has not yet followed through with its threat of legal action. (Perhaps they should have an old-fashioned duel to settle the matter.)

The council insists it is still considering the legal route but I suspect that the longer it goes on considering the option, the less likely it becomes. The forthcoming election will be a factor, however. Kent Conservatives will be desperate to stop the opposition parties from campaigning with leaflets and flyers plastered with the dreaded word.

The on-going threat of legal action just might give them a bit of cover against the charge – but not much.