SCHOOLS have long used whip-rounds, raffles and so forth to raise money for "luxury" extras, but, if it is not unique, then it is certainly rare for parents to be asked to club up to "buy" a teacher.

Yet, that is what parents of pupils at Whalley C of E primary school are being asked to do and may yet do - at £99 a time.

This kind of self-help, of course, is both laudable and responsible. After all, parents want the best education for their children. And the prospect of the Whalley School losing a teacher because its income has fallen in line with a drop in the number of pupils is clearly regarded by the parents behind this action plan as something less than best.

Yet, though parents in a middle-class community like Whalley are more likely to be able to respond financially to such a save-a-teacher call, the fact that if such a problem arose in a less well-heeled area where parents could not afford to fork out, points to a more basic issue.

That is the principle that if a school needs a certain number of teachers, it should have them provided for out of the taxation that parents and others have already paid.

If a member of staff is necessary, he or she cannot be regarded as a luxury to be rescued by a whip-round.

If then, this jeopardised staff post at Whalley is a necessity, the call to parents to dig deep is a grim comment on how dangerously near to the bone the cuts on education spending have become.

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