North-east councils are expected to miss out on the first stage of a £100million fund to boost attainment levels among school pupils in the poorest areas of Scotland.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced on Monday that the cash would be made available to local authority areas with the greatest levels of deprivation.
The government has not provided a breakdown of where the money will be spent, but Aberdeen City and Moray councils have been told they won’t receive any funding.
The four-year initiative will distribute £20million in the coming financial year, with the money focused on improving health and well-being in primary schools and increasing literacy and numeracy levels.
It is understood the government is using the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) as a yardstick.
That would suggest that areas such as Glasgow City, Edinburgh, North Lanarkshire and Dundee are more likely to benefit first.
Council areas such as Aberdeen City are considered relatively affluent by comparison.
Angela Taylor, education convener at the city council, said: “Once again, Aberdeen is the forgotten city. We have some of the worst areas of deprivation in Scotland, albeit we are an affluent city. There are pockets of deprivation and we want to do all we can to improve the educational offer for children in those areas.
“I have been told that Aberdeen won’t benefit from this, but I have asked our officers to take it up with Education Scotland.”
A spokesman for Moray Council confirmed that the authority was not expecting any money from the attainment fund.
Aberdeenshire Council said it was too early to confirm if they would receive anything.
Ms Sturgeon, who announced the new fund on a visit to Dundee, said she had been “particularly impressed” with the impact of the London Challenge in “transforming school performance”.
The new Scottish Attainment Challenge will “draw heavily” on this initiative, she added.
Each school or cluster of schools could see its own bespoke improvement plant drawn up, with work also to be done to measure the impact of the scheme.
She said: “We must do all we can within the powers and resources we have to narrow the gap and drive up standards at all levels.”
A government spokeswoman said further announcements regarding the funding would be made “in due course”.