Schools asking for parental contributions

We had this at DD's school in the 2000s but it was only like one letter at the start of the school year asking for a donation of X amount. We always donated but we were in a financial position to do so.

I pay my taxes. I pay for school trips. I will not be paying for essentials or hills that school budgets should cover it masks a problem and parents are an easy target. Schools need to be lobbying the government about this nit chasing cash strapped parents.

This was normal in my school in the 90s. Parents could send a donation to the school fund every Monday.

Many schools are struggling balancing their books , with some in deficit.

This is down to very poor funding for decades but now on the teachers wage rise which is only partially funded. Teachers must be paid these wages and schools need those teachers so not much can be done.

Our local primary school yrs ago would ask for some basic supplies likes boxes of hankies= pencils but never an amount per month which pp have mentioned.

I dont know of any schools asking for 'general' donations like this.

Our local state secondary school asked for this and I always paid it; it covered the salary of the school nurse among other things. I felt that was a worthwhile extra.

According to my kids, however, many of their friends’ parents chose not to make the contribution, even if they seemed quite well to do. It was worth it to me and I was grateful that there was high quality free education available to us.

At primary level we had to fund raise to buy some unusual but necessary books because the educational printer did not have an account with the education authority; therefore official funds couldn’t be spent on them. Us parents knew why those books would be beneficial and we raised the money as a team. It had over 40% kids from a deprived background so the school head would not have asked for a direct contribution per child.

I think a lot of parents are unaware of how bad school funding is. I no longer have school aged dc but have been a school governor for many years, and it's about as bad as it has ever been after years of reserves having been eroded.

Our school has an in-year deficit again this year, and if we continue on the current trajectory, our reserves will run out in around 3 years. It is an excellent school and heavily oversubscribed.

We have been lobbying the government for years now. Successive MPs from both parties have been invited in, and have been shown the accounts. We have written to anyone who might listen. We are just not being funded properly.

This isn't a case of inefficient practices or money being mismanaged. We have on two occasions now voluntary had "experts" from the schools funding agency come in and have a look at why we are regularly in deficit. On both occasions, their conclusions have been that the school's finances are extremely well managed and that there are no further efficiency savings to be found.

We haven't asked for parental conversations yet, and there is a far reluctance to do so. But we may end up with very few choices available to us. Personally, as a parent, I would have been happy to pay if I realised how dire things really were. We have tried to be transparent with parents about the ongoing situation, but I don't really think anyone believes that the government would let a really excellent and successful school go under. I don't want to believe that either, but we are getting increasingly close to the brink.

It’s always been the case that schools in poor areas get next to nothing from parents and probably won’t ask. They possibly get lots of pp money though so might be ok financially. Middle class schools often expect more, but get much more through pta. This could be spent by school on necessities but pta always want it on “extras”. The time has come to be realistic. I’m not sure if School fund accounts can be charities. Very likely are. Therefore I don’t think donations have to go through pta but schools local to me have asked for donations for at least 20 years! If you have not had requests before now, you have been lucky.

Yes this is definitely more common and the more affluent the area, the more funds are collected.

My friend’s central London state school raised £250k from parent funds in a year alone. Their campus looks like a private school - with proper cladding and all - what a complete waste of money whist some poor school can’t even get bare essentials.

Also it annoys me that these rich students in London get the free school lunches - why am I funding them! I am all in support of free lunch for the students who can’t afford the lunch - definitely should be means tested and use the additional money to elsewhere !

Like someone said above, it’s state vs state when it comes to schools

I fear that this is going to become more common as schools struggle more and more for funding.
However, I agree with the OP that if the school is asking for financial contributions, then the school financials should be transparent for the school community.

I once worked at a school that was always begging parents for money, doing fundraisers, making everyone feel very guilty if they didn’t give. However, it was a small school, and they had a massively bloated middle management with 8-9 different ‘curriculum managers’ whose jobs were a complete mystery to all of us teachers who never saw any of this ‘curriculum’. We were up until all hours planning lessons, writing worksheets etc. and these people never interacted with us or gave us any support. No lesson observations, no work with the SEN students, nothing. I now work in school leadership, and to this day I cannot figure out what those people did all day.

I found out later that their salaries were almost double that of the teachers. Getting rid of a few of those jobs would have saved the school a lot of money.

1. schools have been underfunded for years. If you wanted to lobby someone or vote differently you had ample opportunity. Or do things like this not matter until they directly affect you?
2. Go on your schools website. It will say if it is a trust or charity. In which case they are perfectly entitled to ask for donations to cover costs. They will report annually to the charity commission and their finances will be a public record on the charity commission website.

The funding formula is often schools in urban areas receive more per pupil than those in rural areas. Schools that are disadvantaged are often in urban areas.

How much are schools asking for? I’ve never come across it before.

£150k in reserve is really not a lot when you think of the annual cost of a teacher (with NI and pension costs)

Our village primary is £50k in debt with a reserve of £10k - does this mean anything beyond there’s no money for extras? They do have a high proportion of SEND kids and a good reputation for SEND.
A neighbouring village school has by contrast £10k in debt and £150k in reserve! How can they have so much in reserve??

I think parents should pay a little extra to schools if they can.

I think it should be voluntary and anonymous so that those that can’t don’t have to feel bad but a lot of people could afford £20-£50 a month with a little sacrifice (a lot of people, not all before I get jumped on!) which could make a big difference to schools. I know we all pay taxes but that’s true of people without children too.

Wow yes this is an amazing tool! Just chose a primary based on vibes and pleased to see it’s the only one locally that’s actually not bankrupt!!!

Well that’s good news 😅

When DD attended a Grammar school (couple of years ago) they expected parents to make a payment of at least £50 per year “to help school achieve more for the students”. Supposedly voluntary but they’d repeat it in every weekly newsletter and the high percentage of parents contributing this and far more. Turned out the school was awful from the higher ups all the way down to the kids in year 7, severe unrelenting bullying going on but they had “such a wonderful community in every year group supporting each other through every challenge”. Absolutely despicable consequences with zero accountability. This school has never been short of money or funding. I’m sure there are many schools in dire need. This one wasn’t and isn’t.

We get asked for a general contribution of £150 per child per year (secondary) - we don’t pay it at the moment because we simply don’t have it to spare. However, we do pay the requested contributions towards art/DT materials which is usually around £10. Of course schools should be better resourced by government funding, but I think we’ll all be six foot under before that happens 🤷🏻‍♀️

Schools can have very limited resources, especially in particular circumstances, such as small size of subjects not studied by many. I would just pay, if I could.

I don’t know. On the one hand I would want to support my child and through extension the school.

On the other hand I recently found out the academy school around the corner had embezzled all the school funds somehow (I think by awarding overinflated/ made up contracts to family members for something or other).

So it’s a tricky one.

Incidentally, OP given that you are keen to start lobbying for more funding for schools, you can start by writing to your MP
https://www.writetothem.com

my dcs school are introducing the 2wk autumn half term. I think that term is too long.

This is not new. I was at state schools in the 70s and early 80s, and I remember taking letters home asking for parental contributions. They were officially voluntary, but heavy pressure was applied to everyone to pay up. Plus parents were asked to buy text books throughout secondary school.

This is increasingly the norm.

https://www.theguardian.com/money/article/2024/sep/02/pay-as-you-go-schooling-parents-under-pressure-to-fund-essentials

I'm surprised you're only taking an interest now that you're directly affected, school funding has been shit for over a decade. There are schools out there right now who can't even afford absolute basics. So many opportunities have been cut, curriculum courses cut, children left to cope without proper support.