A public meeting will take place in Egremont to discuss a funding crisis in schools.

It is being organised by the National Association of Head Teachers, which is campaigning for the government to take urgent action on school funding.

It follows news that the government will be cutting its education budget by an estimated £3bn by 2020.

The meeting will be held at West Lakes Academy on May 4, from 6.30pm. It is free and open to school leaders, governors and parents.

This will be the third meeting held in Cumbria about the cuts to education funding. It is part of a series of national meetings to discuss issues.

Russell Hobby, general secretary of the NAHT, said: "School budgets are being pushed beyond breaking point.

"The government’s £3 billion real terms cut to education funding must be reversed or we will see education and care suffer.

"Already heads are being forced to cut staff, cut the curriculum and cut specialist support. A new funding formula is the right thing to do, but it cannot be truly fair unless there is enough money to go round in the first place."

The NAHT says these are the first real terms cuts to education spending since the 1990s.

It said 98 per cent of schools are set to lose funding, at a time when costs are rising and pupil numbers are growing.

The association claims Cumbria is likely to lose an average of £383 per pupil – a total of more than £23m for the county as a whole. The impact on learning will be "significant", it adds.

Graham Frost, headteacher of Robert Ferguson Primary School in Carlisle, said: "Some schools are already having to consider reducing staffing due to financial constraints.

"This funding crisis comes at a time when the system expects schools to do even more for our children and our families as the capacity of Local Authorities is reduced.

"School leaders are not only under ever-increasing pressure to achieve strong outcomes in SATs tests and exams while maintaining a full and balanced curriculum, they are increasingly being called upon to engage in aspects of social work and mental health work to meet a complex range of additional needs."

The NAHT is encouraging people to write to their MPs to say how their school budgets are being squeezed.

People can also sign an online petition at www.schoolcuts.org.uk

And Twitter users can tweet @NAHTnews using #SchoolCuts hashtag.