Published Monday, 28 November 2011
Diane Dawson, principal of Braniel Primary School, told UTV that children's education will suffer as a result.
Mr O'Dowd sent out a letter to governors on Friday explaining to them their funds will be reduced by 5%. The budget cut is 2% more than the reduction expected by educators.
On Monday, the Sinn Féin minister confirmed that the curb on spending will lead to job losses.
Ms Dawson said that the reductions are going to have "a very negative effect" on children's education.
She said: "Schools are going to be forced down the road of larger classes, redundancies, fewer teaching staff, fewer support staff as a result of these cuts and limited resources in an environment where schools have already suffered so many cuts."
However, Mr O'Dowd said he has "set down in black and white" the budgetary position facing schools.
"Principals and boards of governors will now have to sit down with that information and evaluate it against their own budget information and make plans for the future.
"Normally schools get their budget information in January/February," said the Minister, "but I was keen to get as much information out to schools at the earliest possible date.
"The harsh reality is that the cuts imposed on this Administration by the British Government have severely impacted upon the future schools' budget and these reductions will in turn mean that schools will face job losses - both in teaching and non-teaching staff in the future."
He said he has been working with Executive colleagues and Finance Minister Sammy Wilson to secure any additional finance possible for schools.
"Clearly many schools will have difficult choices to make but this early notification of future budgets will allow them to make informed decisions and plan for the future," said the Minister.
"I will continue to argue the case for further investment in the future to help alleviate pressures on the education budget. I will also continue to explore options for alternative savings.
"We've done our best to minimise it - but we can't completely eradicate it."
Mervyn Storey, DUP MLA and Chair of the Education Committee, told UTV the cuts are a "grave concern."
However, he admitted that the minister was in a "very difficult situation" with "a very difficult budget."
He said Mr O' Dowd needed to take another look at his savings delivery plan.
The education cuts are being strongly criticised by teaching unions.
"We knew the cuts were on their way, but this just shows how drastic they are going to be," Avril Hall Callaghan, from the Ulster Teaching Union, told UTV.
"We have told the department this is ridiculous and that schools are cut back to the bone already.
"We are listening to the department saying they want to raise standards, but how can you raise standards when they are reducing the support for children?" she asked.