More schools in Oxfordshire could be built through private finance initiatives -- if a county council bid for Government funding is successful.

Education managers have been given the go-ahead by the county's executive board to make "an expression of interest" to the Government's Private Finance Initiative (PFI) for funding.

The cash would be used for a third secondary school in Didcot and the redevelopment Greenmere Primary School, Didcot Girls and St Birinus Secondary School.

PFI funding could also pay for the redevelopment of Cooper School in Bicester and Banbury School, as well as help fund a primary school in the centre of Banbury.

If the council goes ahead with its PFI bid, which could cost £300,000, it will seek a share of the £1bn likely to be made available to schools nationally in 2004/5.

Keith Mitchell, leader of the council, said the possibility of funding was "too good an offer not to consider carefully".

The council's executive member for schools, Tony Crabbe, said: "We will be working hard to put a comprehensive bid together to bring these modern facilities to Oxfordshire.

"The benefits of PFI are beginning to be seen across the country, and we are hopeful Oxfordshire may be the next in line for some of the vast sums of money available."

Education officers must express their interest by January 3.

The Private Finance Initiative has been used since the 1990s, particularly in the health sector, and is a means of raising private finance to pay for public sector schemes. Its use in the public sector is controversial because the borrower can end up repaying four or five times the amount borrowed.