Voluntary School Fees in a Public School

If School Fees are "Voluntary", why do we get reminder notices sent home?

By definition, voluntary indicates you have a choice whether to "donate" or not, I dont need to be given a reminder of a choice I may or may not have made.

Public Schools should be that.. available to the Public.

Excursions, Uniforms, Electives, Stationery etc etc etc the list goes on!! These expenses are all paid by the parents, to get a reminder that you havent volunteered a contribution is, in the words of Rowan Atkinson, "like being shot through the neck with an arrow and finding there is a gas bill attached to the end of it!"

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Permalink Reply by Neridah Brooke-adams on January 30, 2010 at 19:13

indeed we do have financial responsibilty. Unfortunately in these times we are not able to provide as much as we would like. We also pay high rates of taxes daily that contribute to the Government Funding of the school system. As a tax payer I feel it should be voluntary, in the true sense of the word, to pay pseudo school fees.
I am all for the user pays theory, however, when it comes to education & health I think these resources should be made available to everybody regardless of their economic status.

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Permalink Reply by Damian Gaffney on January 31, 2010 at 16:44

Neridah, stop being so tight and pay the fees - the state schools are crying out for them. It works out to be around $15 a week to educate your child! Everyone needs to contribute.

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Permalink Reply by Neridah Brooke-adams on February 1, 2010 at 14:43

Damien Im not being tight as you suggested.. just financially realistic. I do contribute to my children's education, in many different ways. I also contribute to the Government coffers in far too many ways. My point is this, if it is "voluntary" it should be that. and if I decide, due purely to financial constraints,not to contribute that my children not be penalised in anyway shape or form.
Id like to see your work sheets, $15 per week doesnt even cover the cost of lunches!! ... have three children attending school, and you do the math... hopefully you will come up with the right answer this time and realise that these costs, in many peoples budgets, are a large proportion of their weekly income.
I wont be tight, if you wont be unrealistic

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Permalink Reply by Damian Gaffney on February 1, 2010 at 23:35

Nerida, I was only talking about the cost of school fees (which is at the high end). I know that a number of people have trouble paying school fees and that is why the fees are voluntary. You can talk to your local principal and arrange a payment plan say $2-$5 a week. My problem is with people who don't even make an effort to pay when they can clearly afford it. Your issue is with the government I hope, not the school. Schools are underfunded by the government and without contributions from parents, the students suffer. Fees are simply used to cover basic costs. If the school does not get this money, where are they going to get it from?

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Permalink Reply by Sophie poulos on July 20, 2010 at 20:58

Good evening to the readers, I to am a mother of four and I have calculated on average the cost per year for four children which includes my schools fees, uniforms, school shoes, excursions and extra activities such as easter hat day, donut day, pizza day every single useless junk day those teachers can think up day!
For my situation it works out to an average of $30 per week, per child x four equals $120.00 per week. WOW what an estimation. I am for paying school fees but they should be realistic........$30 for a dance class per child WASTED $$$, IT program that gets used 5 times a year WASTED $$$, excursions that you send your kids to see how rubbish gets sorted WASTED $$$, incursions....what a load of rubbish WASTED $$$. I pay for a bunch of books pens etc by four times estimation $800 and I get all the books back at the end of the year three quarters empty...what happened to the recycling excursion that I paid for? What a JOKE! I now have six years of empty scrap paper and I still have another six years to go (of primary school)....Like I said I would love to pay school fees but they need to be realistic in todays world. Oh one last thing, what ever happen to teachers doing their job and teaching kids to learn things like recycle, cleaning, manners english and maths. I seem to be paying for that too ...at home, cause I do it all and spend up to two hours a night reading, english, maths, IT, life etc. pay me Mr Principle because I can do it much better than any teacher. Just to add in some and I say some schools those office ladies are the rudest things placed on this earth with absolutely no social or interpersonal skills, communication skills at all. Office ladies are the core of Hello and welcome to this school, not the grave yard......get rid of them pronto and bring in people with capabilities pleaseeeeeeeee.

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Permalink Reply by Ian Curtinsmith on January 31, 2010 at 23:24

Actually, I agree with Neridah on
this. Australians are one of the most heavily taxed countries in the world.

Stop and think for a second what tax you pay. Add up your personal income tax, the GST on everything you buy, the hidden taxes in everything from milk to petrol to car insurance to your council fees and stamp duty and I think you will find yourself earning less than 30c in the dollar.
I believe we deserve something for the all that $. Call me crazy but I think that should include items that garantee a vibrant workforce to make all that money to give to the goverment. To that end, Yes I believe schooling should be free as it is in the goverments best intrest to have an educated skilled workforce.
If I was to choose to send my children to a private school with a tenis court and a pool, then yes I think I should pay for that.

if I had my way then every student should be allocated a fund by the goverment for education. Let's call this for lack of a better word a "credit"
if your child goes to a public school then that school cashes in on that credit and receives funding from the govement at the same rate as if your child goes to a private school. This way ever child receives the same start in life. As for private schools, I think they have there place for those that wish to say "upgrade" there education. However the goverments roll is to ensure that all are treated the same which means funds are allocated per child the same.

Sorry bit of a rant, but back to the original post. Yes I pay for my kids school fees in my exorbitant taxes. As such I expect this payment to be excepeted and noted without being condemend for not paying what can only be described as an incorect use of a word "voluntary" fees. Clearly they are not or no price would be set.

If the school can not function without these extra fees, then the goverment is failing in it's task to distribute the wealth it has collected adequately.

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Permalink Reply by Ian Curtinsmith on January 31, 2010 at 23:35

Please excuse spelling above, typing on a PDA with one finger not conducive to proper grammar or spelling

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Permalink Reply by Sean O'Reilly on May 17, 2010 at 11:52

Before making assertions such as "Australians are one of the most heavily taxed countries in the world.", I would ask you to substantiate this with objective statistics or web links. Go to link1 and link2

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Permalink Reply by Katrina Smith on May 17, 2010 at 12:10

Hear hear Sean.
Bottom line: No we're not heavily taxed. While we're at it, our education system is amongst the best in the world, so are our teachers.

Australia is the envy of the World because we're doing things right.
Stop moaning people, pay your school fees if you can.

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Permalink Reply by Full Name on March 5, 2010 at 15:08

It's all very well to say that education should be fully paid for by government, and in some joyful future that may become the case, but I think I'm pretty safe in saying that right now the school your child attends relies on school fees and fundraising.

Your school fees get split into mandatory and voluntary parts for two good reasons. One is that not all families are equally able to pay the fees so richer families subsidise those worse off by making their voluntary payments. The other is that a voluntary payment is a gift in the eyes of the tax department and therefore tax deductible.

Bottom line - if you can pay the voluntary fees then you should. If you can't then the school will make sure your child still gets the benefits provided by those that do. If you can but won't then shame on you - you're reducing your school's ability to provide the best education they can for your child.

MarkG

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Permalink Reply by Cameron Hawke on March 7, 2010 at 10:52

HI Nerida. I see your point. However we all want the best for our kids and the enforceable minimum is just not enough to provide the needs for our kids within the public system. Unfortunately then the school depends on us to pay the full amount. Speaking first hand if the full amount does not come in then other areas of the school suffer. It's an interesting discussion though and will only ever be addressed if the politicians believe this is a big enough issue that will get them votes.