Ministers were wrong to blame councils for failing to pass funds on to schools last year, an Audit Commission report has claimed.

The spending watchdog found that the 2003 school funding "crisis" was more a case of perception than reality.

In its report released on Wednesday the commission concluded that local authorities were not to blame but that there is too little information on, and control over, how headteachers use public money.

Stakeholder Response: Association of Teachers and Lecturers

Dr Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, said: "The Audit Commission's report confirms what the teaching associations have said, that education funding is poorly managed by all concerned.

"It is all very well, 12 months after the event, to find there was no crisis. That will be of no consolation to teachers who lost their jobs and to those young people whose school improvement projects were put on hold.

"The revelation that schools are sitting on £1.2 billion of reserves strengthens our resolve that we will not allow school management to fail to implement the provision of the workforce agreement on the grounds of insufficient funding." 

Stakeholder Response: Professional Association of Teachers

Jean Gemmell, PAT general secretary, said: "I am surprised by the way that last year’s funding crisis has been played down in the report. We certainly don’t want to see a repeat performance.