A HIGH school in Bolton is almost '600,000 in the red - the largest deficit in Greater Manchester.

Ladybridge High School is one of five schools in the town - where Education Secretary Ruth Kelly's is an MP - which have amassed a total debt close to '2m.

The five Bolton schools are included in a top 10 list of secondary and primaries in Greater Manchester owing more than '200,000 and facing a cash crisis. The situation has now sparked fears of teacher shortages.

The full extent of the cash crisis crippling schools was laid bare when the Department for Education and Skills published a list of 1,866 schools which have run into debt.

Primary schools are '34m in the red across the country, with secondary schools responsible for an additional '86m.

Teaching unions and the Tories are now warning of a risk of teacher shortages because head teachers are struggling with debts and complex ring-fenced government funding.

Previous school funding crises in 2000 and 2003 saw four-day weeks and classes of 90 pupils in some areas.

News of the cash crisis comes as a new blow for Tony Blair and embattled Ruth Kelly, the MP for Bolton West, who face a rebellion by Labour MPs to give schools more power.

Tory education spokesman David Willetts said the crisis was "very worrying" and the answer was to give heads total sums of money which they could allocate as they see fit, and not to order them to use it for specific purposes.

A spokesman for the Department of Education said the budgets were a matter for the schools, which should aim to balance them, to work with local education authorities.

The top 10 Greater Manchester schools with over '200,000 debts are: Ladybridge High School, Bolton ('590,300); Rivington & Blackrod High School, Bolton ('421,400); Brookway High School & Sports College, Manchester ('392,600); The Deane School, Bolton ('347,200); Mount St Joseph Business & Enterprise College, Bolton ('343,400); Abbey Hey Primary School, Manchester ('287,700); St Thomas Aquinas RC High School, Manchester ('271,400); Edgerton Park Arts College, Tameside ('241,700); St Joseph's RC High School & Sports College, Bolton ('220,610); Lowton Community Sports Centre, Wigan ('208,300).

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