PRIMARY schools in Devon have warned they may have to make staff redundant because they are being forced to pay broadband bills which run into thousands of pounds.

Small schools in remote areas are being hardest hit by the unexpected charges, which can be as high as £8,000. In some cases, it works out to well over £100 per pupil, in schools which operate on tight margins.

Headteachers have said it will leave some with no option but to sack a teaching assistant – and in some cases even a teacher – to make up the shortfall. Elsewhere, children face going without school trips, and staff are having to scrimp on resources such as craft materials to make ends meet.

Kathy Tape, head of Hartland Primary School in North Devon, said her £7,000 bill was having a "huge impact" in a school with 91 pupils.

She said broadband was "essential" to remote schools, but expressed her fears: "I think lots of schools will go into deficit over this. It wouldn't surprise me at all if some schools had to get rid of members of staff."

Mrs Tape said she was lucky, because she had been warned early, and had managed to make savings without losing staff. But she said pupils may lose out on some day trips, and staff were having to "scrimp and save" on materials.

The situation has arisen because the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) has changed the way it funds IT.

In the past, councils used a Harnessing Technology grant to pay for broadband, but under new rules it has been ring- fenced to pay for hardware.

Councils used to be obliged to match- fund the payment, but they no longer are. In Devon, it means schools are having to fend for themselves.

Cornwall Council has a different arrangement, with current pricing levels set through 2010.

In Devon, headteachers have been left seething at the financial bombshell, which has come at a time when many are concerned about funding into the future.

When they had broadband installed, it was on the understanding the bill would be paid, but now the head of one Devon school, who did not want to be identified, said the bill exceeded £7,000, and schools had been told the variation in the amount depended on how far from the main hub the school was based.

They have now opted to go back to the old ADSL connection, but will still have to pay this year.

The head had heard of one case where a teacher may have to be sacked, and others where teaching assistants could lose their jobs.

"Most small schools are really struggling with this," the headteacher said.

"Our budgets are so tight, and we're not allowed to go into deficit. In some schools, jobs are in jeopardy over this ridiculous issue. We're talking about children's education being seriously compromised."

Alan Simpson, headteacher at Seaton Primary School, and chairman of the Axe Valley Learning Community in East Devon, said the smaller schools in his patch were the hardest hit.

"It's very worrying for them, particularly as budgets are going to be extremely tight anyway," he added.

"It's very hard having to find extra money when many schools may have to make redundancies anyway."

The change in the grant has left Devon County Council with a shortfall of £2.5 million. Last year, the Department for Children, Schools and Families granted special dispensation to the council for the loss, but this year the schools have to find the money themselves.

John Barnard, director of finance at Devon's Children and Young People's Services, said there was a lack of clarity from the DCSF, and any change should only come after a 12-month period rather than the two given by the DCSF.

He said: "Schools are now facing costs of £4,000 to £8,000, which will put many into budget deficits. We had already set our budgets, so we didn't tell schools to set any money aside to cover these costs.

"The timing is particularly bad, and some schools will have to make redundancies, especially when 2010/11 hits, when deficits will be even greater."

A spokeswoman for Becta, the government agency which promotes communication technology through learning and administers the allocation of the Harnessing Technology grants to local authorities, said rules on how the grant could be spent had changed in the past two years.

She said: "It has always been the job of the local authority to audit and approve what is spent against their grant.

"Becta has never been involved in those decisions and has certainly not changed any rules.

"We sympathise with schools who are suddenly facing new charges for broadband, but this is an issue which needs to be resolved between schools and the local authority."

A spokesman for Cornwall Council, who have assurances that the rate for schools would remain the same next year, said: "The broadband infrastructure is in the process of being upgraded and scheduled for completion in April 2010 when a revised pricing formula be presented to the Schools Forum.

"The purpose of re-investing these grant monies, with agreement from Schools Forum, is to update the infrastructure to enable schools to have a more ready scalable bandwidth – pay for what they are using and have more control over their individual requirements – which will mean that the schools will not be facing large increases."