Schools across the county have been told they must hand over nearly £1.5million they are holding in reserves to the county council.

County education chiefs have ordered 15 schools to relinquish the money after deciding the amounts being held back as "rainy day" money were excessive.

In the case of one secondary school - The Bradbourne School in Sevenoaks - the sum is £500,000.

Holmesdale Secondary School in Malling, west Kent, has been told to hand over £100,000 while two infant schools between them will lose nearly £30,000.

The Bradbourne School said it was surprised at the decision and pointed out it had previously been praised by the education authority for managing its finances well.

Head teacher Mary Boyle said: "We were given special permission to carry forward reserves which we wish to spend on the young people who come to the school whose money it is.

"We would like to know where our money is going."

Ian Hobson, executive principal of Holmesdale, said: "We thought we had a good case to retain the money because it was based on improving teaching and learning."

The move is likely to prove controversial and will prompt complaints from some schools that they are paying the penalty for building up funds through good management.

Several have already unsuccessfully appealed against the county council’s ruling.

The £1.47million will be shared among other schools and be used to meet the costs of higher fuel and energy bills.

Kent County Council acted after it emerged that its 594 schools were together holding close to £80million in reserves.

Figures seen by the KM Group reveal three secondary schools are holding more than £1million in reserves - while one primary school has nearly £500,000 held back for contingencies.

In these cases, much of the money has been earmarked for spending schemes but a further nine secondaries have more than £200,000 each, which has not been earmarked for any initiative.

KCC told schools to justify why they were holding back the money or it would step in and claw some of it back under a policy being implemented as part of a three-year government pilot.

In a statement, Cllr Mark Dance (Con), KCC’s cabinet member for education resources, said: "In 2007, we were asked by the Government to reduce reserves and so we have contacted 41 schools with the highest reserves.

"In 15 cases we have decided the levels were excessive and decided to recover £1.47million. This money will be put back into school budgets and re-distributed in consultation with the Schools’ Funding Forum."

He added: "It is good practice for schools to have a sensible level of contingency but the average figure for Kent is quite high.

"We would encourage schools to support education now and spend the money on the day-to-day running of their schools."