Spending on schools has reduced by more than £1.2 billion in the last seven years, Labour has claimed, with the amount of money going to educate each secondary-school pupil now over £1,000 less.
Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale criticised Nicola Sturgeon on the issue, telling the First Minister: "The real problem in our education system is our schools are skint."
Ms Sturgeon insisted councils are planning to spend £144 million more this year on education when compared to last year.
Read more: Nine Aberdeenshire schools need remedial work, post-collapse probe finds
Ms Dugdale challenged her on the figures as they clashed at First Minister's Questions.
She told the SNP leader: "Her own government's figures show this year's spending on education is going down again in real terms. Under the SNP, spending on pupils is going down again in real terms.
"I'll tell her just how real it is. The SNP has cut spending by hundreds of pounds of every single pupil and it has cut spending on each secondary-school pupil by over £1,000.
"It is a 7% cut by this SNP government since 2010."
The numbers - which the Labour leader said were provided by the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Spice) - show there has been £1.23 billion "taken out of schools on the SNP's watch".
According to Labour, spending per pupil in secondary schools has fallen from £8,033 in 2010-11 to £6,892 in 2016-17.
Read more: Nine Aberdeenshire schools need remedial work, post-collapse probe finds
Ms Dugdale claimed that under the SNP "teacher numbers are down, support staff numbers are down, class sizes are going up".
She added: "This week teachers are going on their summer break, isn't it the case that what they really need is a break from this Government?"
Ms Sturgeon said: "The problem for Kezia Dugdale is I've got figures in front of me as well.
"Data published on June 27 shows councils are planning to spend £144 million more - that's 3% in cash, 1.3% in real terms - on education this year than they planned to spend last year."
The increase is there when the £120 million that will go to head teachers to help cut the attainment gap is included in the statistics, she added.
The First Minister insisted: "Those are the facts.
"This Government is taking the tough action to reform our education system, to get more powers into the hands of head teachers and teachers, and crucially to get more resources into the hands of head teachers and teachers."
Read more: Nine Aberdeenshire schools need remedial work, post-collapse probe finds
With schools being run by local councils, Ms Sturgeon turned on the decisions made in North Lanarkshire, where Labour runs the authority along with the Tories.
The First Minister said: "North Lanarkshire in its recent budget decided two things of relevance to this discussion.
"Firstly, it decided not to use the powers it had been given to increase the council tax, it decided to freeze the council tax.
"Secondly, it decided to cut the number of classroom assistants, to sack the very support staff Kezia Dugdale is talking about."
Ms Sturgeon pledged: "This Government will continue to invest in education, reform education and deliver the changes that our education system needs.
"We will do that in spite of Labour councils across the country, not because of them."
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