Almost one in ten Scottish schools ended the last academic year with a financial deficit, after total overspending of £5.7million, new figures have revealed.
However, the total is likely to be higher as four of Scotland’s 32 councils failed to respond to freedom of information requests.
The data showed at least 238 of Scotland’s 2,461 state schools ended the 2021/22 academic year with their budget in the red.
The Scottish Liberal Democrats, who obtained the figures, said it was “shocking” to see so many schools had been forced into the red by budget pressures.
They also highlighted the way many councils use accounting procedures to say that none of their schools are technically in deficit or have a “true overspend”.
