Council chiefs and teachers' leaders have joined forces to challenge Education Secretary John Swinney's plans for reform in Scotland's schools.

David O'Neill, president of local government body Cosla, warned Scottish Government plans to hand £100 million-a-year extra cash raised by council-tax reforms straight to schools "smashes" the link between local taxation and local services.

Teaching unions raised concerns about the timetable for changes outlined in the government's education delivery plan, with Larry Flanagan, general secretary of the Educational Institute of Scotland, stating: "It's more important that we get this right rather than simply do it quickly. They are very ambitious timescales that have been set out."

Mr Swinney has set out plans for legislation to be brought in to shift responsibility for raising standards from education authorities to schools.

In addition, his education delivery plan sets out to create ''new school clusters and new educational regions''.

Mr Flanagan said: "It would be an absolute folly to look at any kind of structural reorganisation of education at a time of reduced resources, because it will simply be distracting attention from what is important, which is how you support schools and teachers in the classroom."

He made the comments after Cosla held an extraordinary meeting of its education executive group in Edinburgh, with teachers' unions and the bodies that represent senior council officials also present.

The EIS, Scottish Secondary Teachers' Association (SSTA), Association of Headteachers and Deputes in Scotland (AHDS) and local government union Unison were represented, along with the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives (Solace) and Association of Directors of Education in Scotland (ADES).

SNP ministers are proposing that from 2017-18 the additional £100 million will go directly to head teachers to help them improve attainment, with the amount each school receives to be linked to the number of youngsters in receipt of free school meals.

Mr O'Neill said it had been a "Scottish tradition for generations" that money raised by local authorities from council tax was spent in that region, describing that as a "clear and honourable link".

The Cosla president said: "The Scottish Government will destroy that link with their plans to use council tax money for a national policy.

"Head teachers are valued and trusted public servants but they are not elected, no-one votes for a headteacher and nor should they.

"Councillors stand for election and should be held responsible for taxes raised and money spent in the area."

Solace chair Angela Leitch stated: "We do have some concerns about the direct link between national funding for education and raising it through council tax, council tax by its very definition raises funding to be spent in that local area."

The reforms are being brought in at the end of a nine-year council tax freeze imposed by the SNP, with Mike Kirby of Unison saying it was an "irony" that the Scottish Government "which has held a council-tax freeze for so long sets in place a mechanism to generate more income locally, but it then chooses to use that income for national purpose".

Rather than the "folly" of creating new regional education bodies, Mr Flanagan suggested: "Enhancing the ability of councils and professional bodies to work in collaboration is something which is cost-effective and ultimately makes the biggest difference."

Fiona Dalziel of the SSTA echoed his concerns about changing the structure of education, saying: "We can't see how reorganising at this point is going to effect the quickest change, we would like things to stay as they are and to have a targeted, clarified approach to make sure that the pupils that need help the most are able to get that help as quickly as possible."