£3 million will be transferred from the mainstream schools budget under proposals made by South Gloucestershire Council (SGC).

The money will instead be spent on SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) provision.

SGC will have a deficit of £12 million for education by the end of 2018/19 if spending is not curbed.

A public consultation has been set up where people can have their say on three options put forward by the council.

The preferred option will see the majority of the extra £3.7million government funding for schools instead spent on children with SEND.

Another option would be to reduce the SEND budget by £3million and a third option would see £1.5million taken from both SEND and mainstream provision.

Any reduction made to the schools budget would need the permission of Damian Hinds, the Secretary of State for Education.

Councillor Toby Savage, leader of SGC and cabinet member for schools, said: “The Council is working hard to put in place measures to help maintain services for our most vulnerable pupils, but we are trying to do so in the most cost-effective way.

“We are also looking to invest some of our SEND funding in new cluster based early intervention funding. This will put clusters of schools in control of significant amounts of funding to put support and interventions in place for SEND pupils much earlier than is the case now.

"The options we are considering will help us meet the growing pressures in supporting pupils with SEND. Should we make that transfer most of the transferred amount will still go to our mainstream schools, but does so linked to supporting some of our most vulnerable pupils with SEND.

“We do feel there is a strong case for South Gloucestershire to receive a fairer share of funding for our schools and we will of course continue setting out our case for more funding through our continued lobbying as strongly as we have in the past.

"We are also trying to fulfil our responsibility to live within our means by working hard to make the available funding we have deliver the maximum impact possible to support all our pupils.”

South Gloucestershire Lib Dem Schools spokesperson Cllr Ian Blair said: “It’s absolutely correct that provision for children with Special Educational Needs must be prioritised.

It’s troubling that the only way the Conservatives can see to do this is to take £3 million from general funding for South Gloucestershire’s already chronically underfunded mainstream schools.”

Leader of the opposition Lib Dems, Claire Young, said: “As a local parent I am deeply concerned about the state of South Gloucestershire’s schools. When Toby Savage became leader of the Council earlier this year he announced that improving school standards was among his highest proprieties. Cutting £3 million from South Gloucestershire’s mainstream schools budget is hardly likely to help achieve that.

“I am calling on Cllr Savage to lobby his Tory colleagues in Westminster to ensure both mainstream education and SEND in South Gloucestershire are properly funded.”

The public consultation is open until November 25 and there are three public events being held where people will be able to provide feedback.

For more information and to view the consultation documents visit consultations.southglos.gov.uk/consult.ti/SchSENDBudget/consultationHome.