Barry Gardiner said the boards must find ways to cut costs

However, a meeting of the South Eastern Education and Library Board ended after a short time.

Discussions over its recovery plan were postponed until next Tuesday.

It is understood the plan was not discussed because the chief executive is on holiday.

Both boards have overspent their budgets long before the end of the financial year.

However, they have also been severely chastised by the education minister for not doing enough to put that right.

Cost-cutting measures by both boards have already been put in place, such as not replacing staff who leave, cancelling in-service training for teachers and banning all maintenance except in the case of emergencies.

The South Eastern board is overspending by �5.7m but it had said it could only save about �1m without damaging the welfare of pupils.

However, it is understood to have now come up with a further list of cost-cutting measures which would save another �5m.

'Monitoring spending'

The Belfast board is thought to be tackling an overspend from last year of about �5m and a similar amount for this year.

Members of the board are being asked to vote on a package of cuts.

This is thought to include selling off equipment or land, asking pupils to pay more for activities and switching to second class post.

It will be trying to cut costs by reducing absenteeism among teachers and other staff and is planning redundancies which would eventually save �750,000.

A longer term proposal - which will worry teachers and school governors - is that the number of schools could be reduced.

Speaking on Tuesday, Education Minister Barry Gardiner told the chief executives of both boards that they bore personal responsibility for monitoring spending.

Mr Gardiner instructed the boards to find out why they overspent by millions and how they could cut costs.

The minister said he was unhappy with their progress so far and he expected them to produce plans without further delay.