YORK schools will get an extra £489 per pupil over the next three years thanks to more Government cash.

City of York Council will get an extra £9.6 million funding directed at personalised learning and tackling smaller pockets of deprivation.

Despite this new money, Liberal Democrat councillors have pointed out that York was still 23rd lowest funded of all the 149 local authorities in the UK.

This means that if York received the national average funding in 2008/09 there would be an extra £265 for every pupil, or £6.036 million in total.

That would be enough to give an extra £266,000 to every secondary school and £56,000 to every primary school.

It is also the equivalent of an additional 165 teachers or 300 additional classroom assistants.

Coun Carol Runciman, executive member for children's services, said: "While I welcome the Government funding increase for tackling deprivation, I am still frustrated that York pupils are losing out on an extra £265 each from the Government, which is what York would receive if our funding was in line with the national average.

"The Liberal Democrats have been running an active campaign to try to get a fair grant for York, and we will continue to fight for fair funding."

The new cash represents a 11.6 per cent funding increase - below the national average of 12 per cent, but as pupil numbers in York are projected to fall over the period, it equates to an £489 increase per pupil overall.

The funding has only been allocated to 46 local authorities as it is intended to support children from deprived backgrounds who attend schools in less deprived authorities.

The council aims to allocate this extra funding to schools in the city based on relative levels of deprivation.

Coun Dave Merrett, Labour's spokesman for children's services on City of York Council, said: "What parents want above all is a quality education for their children and this needs to be delivered in a variety of ways, particularly recognising individual abilities and circumstances.

"The new money for personalised learning recognises this fact and targets extra resources where they are needed."