SCHOOLS in Southampton are in the red by more than half a million pounds it has been revealed.

Seven city schools including the Holy Family Catholic Primary School and St George's Catholic School for Boys are in debt to the tune of £538,000, according to a report due to be put under the microscope by city education bosses today.

Plummeting pupil numbers are being blamed for the huge deficit which will be discussed by members of the city council's ruling Liberal Democrat Cabinet.

The seven schools have asked that they can be allowed to go into the red while they struggle to balance the books.

Top of the budget deficit list is the Holy Family Catholic Primary School which is expecting to be overdrawn by £100,000 this year. The school will be looking to cut staffing costs and make other savings to balance its books according to the report.

The city's Catholic secondary school for boys St George's is also set to go into the red by around £80,000.

It has already cut its teaching staff by five from September this year following a drop in the number of pupils at the school from 548 pupils in January 2005 to 523 in January 2006 a fall of 25 pupils.

Other schools struggling to balance the books are The Cedar School, which has seen a drop in its income from charitable donations this year.

City education bosses expect that new government rules on special school funding will enable the Cedar School to balance its books by 2008.

Last month, the Daily Echo revealed how plummeting pupil numbers had forced education chiefs to restructure secondary education in the city.

A review due to be completed in February next year could see secondary schools in the east and west of the city close or merge with other schools. The city's 14 secondary schools alone have 13,477 places and 11,540 pupils leaving education bosses with the dilemma of filling 1,937 spare places or downsizing the city's secondary school provision.

A final decision on whether to allow the schools to go into the red will be made in two weeks' time.