With football taking centre stage on our televisions it was not unexpected that our new Government would start its game of education football.

The new Education Secretary, Michael Gove, kicked off with an invitation to schools which are performing well to apply to become academies.

I would suggest readers take a look at the performance data for existing academies.

It will become apparent that many do not perform as well as some of our local secondary schools.

Schools who do opt out of the local authority (LA) take with them their funding, which means LAs have less income. Part of the funding lost to the LAs is that used to support their schools.

Mr Gove would be better off revisiting funding allocation for LA-run schools. Shire counties receive less funding than metropolitan areas, yet shire costs are higher.

Not all shire counties receive the same level of funding, North Yorkshire (one of the largest counties) is not even near the top of the list.

To compound matters, not all schools receive the same level of funding per pupil from the LA.

Until fair funding is available to all schools, especially those in the shires, there seems little point in tinkering with education.

David Rhodes, The Shrubberies, Cliffe, Selby.