A Brighton college catering for children who have been bullied has had its funding withdrawn.
The Self Managed Learning College, in Edward Street, Brighton, will receive money until Christmas.
The decision was taken by the Brighton and Hove City Council Children and Young People Committee at Hove Town Hall this afternoon (Monday 14 October).
Ian Cunningham, the chairman of the board of governors and a Green Party member, said afterwards: “It shows a callous disregard for children in the city.
“We’re starting to talk to lawyers now because they’re completely out of order.
“I am publicly resigning from the Green Party because they clearly have no interest in the children of this city.
“We are an approved alternative provider. We’re not providing a private education as Labour suggested.
“The council has a legal responsibility to make sure that all children get a suitable education.”
The committee meeting was adjourned while the chairman Councillor Sue Shanks took legal advice after confusion over apparently contradictory votes on funding for the college.
Professor Cunningham said: “It’s complete chaos. It leaves us in limbo.”
Councillor Shanks said that the council had been able to recoup funding for the small college from the Department for Education (DfE).
But the DfE had changed the rules, potentially leaving the council tens of thousands of pounds out of pocket in a time of financial constraint.
She said that the children who attended the Self Managed Learning College were regarded as home educated because they were not in a mainstream or council-run school.
The college takes children who have been bullied or who have special educational needs including some who are school-phobic.
Councillor Andrew Wealls asked the committee to fund pupils at the college until the end of the academic year to give it time to find alternative sources of income.
The Conservative councillor also wanted two pupils in Year 10 and one in Year 11 to be funded until they had completed their GCSEs.
