AIBU - to be annoyed at school hounding me for a voluntary contribution?

[altern8gal]

My son is in reception at school. When he started we were given a small re-sealable bag and a letter for "Fun Fund" which basically said to put a £1/week in bag and send into school.

I did this for a few weeks, until I started thinking about it properly, totted up how much school were getting a year from the "Fun Fund" (approx £1560) and started to wonder where this money was going. When parents do not send in the contribution, we either sent a text to remind us, or pulled up by a member of staff.

I spoke to a teacher, who had pulled me up in the playground, and voiced my opinions and explained that I thought it was unfair to chase debt for a voluntary contribution. The next day, teacher came out with a big long list of what they used the money on (Sweets for Diwali, googly eyes, shaving foam (??) etc etc). We also pay for the usual stuff, school trips, disco, nativity, book week etc!

I explained, yet again, that I had no problem with providing a donation for something my child was doing at school, but I did think £1/week was excessive and that I didn't appreciate being chased for the money. Teacher agreed a letter would be sent out explaining clearly, and she didn't seem to know that we were getting texts too (I'm not the only parent concerned about this, just the only one to speak up about it).

Anyway, after being spoken too in the playground, twice, surrounded by parents, kids and teachers, I have yet again had a text chasing a voluntary contribution.

AIBU to think that this is a bit wrong?

carabos I pay for the education of their children too. With DH I also pay £34,000 of net income in school fees in addition to taxation. We live in London and at secondary the schools are barely adequate let alone good and that relates to teaching and behaviour. I cannot understand why any parent would object to stumping up a pound a week to enrich the education of their children.

Perhaps because they can't afford it marriedinwhite? You're lucky that you can afford the £34,000 a year school fees that you pay. To some people, finding £1 per week genuinely is a struggle, sadly. Some may have to pay £2 or £3 per week if they have more than one child at that school and again they may struggle to find that money.

But the OP has not indicated she can't afford it she has said she resents being asked for it and has added it up and thinks it's unacceptable. Not being able to afford it and not wanting to pay it are two very different things IMO. The school needs to make arrangements that make every child feel equal and that I understand but I do not understand a parent who can afford it being resentful about it.

Surely though no one should be shamed into saying they can't afford something through constant hounding?

the pta dont fund for shaving foam and googly eyes, they fund for tuck shops and stuff, make a thread and ask members of pta what they are funding for?

i do think the hounding is out of order.

I think the real objection is that the OP is being pursued for what is, ostensibly, a voluntary contribution. However the money is used, the parents should be able to choose if and when they contribute without being singled out in the playground or receiving grabby texts from the school.

Hmmm the meaning of the word voluntary seems to be changing in this country. You only have to look at threads about the Job Centre forcing the unemployed to do volunteer work in the community or volunteer to do a placement in Poundland or Tesco all the while using the word voluntary but threatening to stop their benefits if they dont do it.
Cant help wondering if the Oxford Dictionary know that the meaning of the word has obviously changed!!!

Do you remember the thread a while back, talking about teachers spending their own money on class resources? There were numerous posters who didn't understand why it was necessary.
If the teachers don't buy the shaving foam, (and yes, all you non-EYPs out there it is a common tool used to help with letter and number formation) and googly eyes and additional fun resources, then either it doesn't happen in class and decreases the interest and creativity possible, or you get harassed for money as parents.
So OP, YANBU. Yje contribution should be voluntary and any hopeful further begging should be a general plea.
If I need certain things, I do send a note home. The last begging letter was for plain flour and salt to make salt dough, and ribbon scraps.

At previous proimary they used to send out a little envelope once a year asking for £5 voluntary to cover all those things that add up but in real terms cost very little eg the Hindi lady who would come in at Diwali and do candle making, her time was free but the materials had to be paid for and it would have been far too tome consuming to ask every child for 50p IYSWIM.

You shouldn't be texted for not contributing to a voluntary request.

That said, state schools are really struggling with no increase in budget for the last two years. Teachers' pay has theoretically been frozen but in reality the school's costs still go up as most teachers go up the pay scale each year even when there is no inflationary rise. As it stands staff coats are between 80-85% of the school budget, there is precious little left to work with including maintaining the buildings etc .

As a governor of a Village primary, we only ask for contributions to school trips and funding the occasional event in school. None of us have any problem with people who genuinely can't pay but get really p*ssed off with those that don't pay then parade around the playground in designer gear.
Do people not realise that if they don't contribute then essentially the money comes from the same pot as te kids books etc? That is why none of the governors at our school ever claim expenses.

Thank you all for the overwhelming response to my post. To answer a couple of questions: Yes the school has other fundraising like Christmas fair, non-uniform day, ant-bullying day etc etc.

I like many of the ideas raised and would like to make it clear that I do not have a problem contributing to the school fund, however I do not like being hounded or pulled up in front of other parents/teachers/children for what is a "voluntary" contribution.

I would happily pay £5/a year as some other parents have mentioned, as I think that is a fair amount. Or, buy googly eyes/tin of shaving foam/packet of flour towards activities. Sometimes I do not have £1 on a Monday morning after paying out for bus fares/lunch money etc and don't think I should be made to feel bad about not paying towards the "fun fund" that week.

Thanks again for your input, I will speaking to the head, making notes of the texts and letting the PTA/Governors/Ofsted know my thoughts.

marriedwhite,
because it is illegal, and encourages the privatization of education ("well we can see that most parents do not object to a financial contribution so we are making it mandotory"), I also fail to see how sweets and shaving foam enriches education.
And everyopne also contributes to your private education as many private schools receive some state help via grants (education of teachers as well) and they do not pay tax by claiming charity status.

I agree Kelly.There are plenty of Divali activities you can do that don't involve sweets.

Would also like to add you can get a large packet of googly eyes in Tescos for under a pound or a packet of sweets from Lidle for pennies.Basics shaving foam is a few pence.Not sure the teacher's need for £30 a week on top of school resources.I certainly never spent anything like that and still managed to provide an enriching learning experience for rec children.

Also lets not forget it's not just a £1 but a £1 on top of a huge amount of other contributions eg trips,fund raising etc.

Schools just have to realise many parents have more than one child,times are tough and parents aren't bottomless pits on the money front.

Also it's very wrong to hound when you are not allowed to.I feel for the op's child,my dc would be mortified.

Our school asks for £15 a year or £20 if you have more than one child at the school. They say what they will spend the money on (usually non essential but nice to have building projects like toilet refurbishment).

I wish schools would ask parents each term for things they could do with e.g. buttons, wool, ribbons, shaving foam, books for reception library, pieces of marble run, whatever. I am sure they would get more than they expected.

marriedinwhite - I pay school fees to for two children but i take completley the opposite view to you. State school is free. Apart from school trips (which there should be very very few and cheap) it should be entirely free.

I do not understand how state school has suddenly becme party fee paying in this country or is it only in fairly well off middle class areas? I BET there is very little 'voluntary' collection in schools in poorer areas of town. In fact, I head some LEAs deliberatley target schools in better off areas and starve them of funds as they know parents will stump up the extra and the 'saving' is diverted to other schools.

Our school asks for nothing! DS has been to the theatre, they get fruit three times a week, trips etc. we do pay 50p on non uniform days etc, hand in jumble, tins or boxes when needed. But really they rarely ask for a monetary contribution. The PTA raises a lot of funds.

You shouldn't be hounded for it, that's unacceptable, and must be horrible when you genuinely can't afford it. In the perfect world, your taxes would fund state education entirely, for every child, in every part of the country. Up to the age of eighteen.
However, I do think, as budgets are being slashed and "We are all in this together." that middle class parents have a responsibility to contribute as much as they can afford - not always money, sometimes time or support. In the meantime, support teachers when they strike and vote for a party that will raise taxes for the top earners.

Yes queenofsummer our Social Worker did ask if it was hard finding the £3 a week for the voluntary donation. I think that was to find out how we were spending our money and wondering if it was being spent on the kids nosey cow.
I don't object to giving the money as it does 'buy' a lot for ds, not just sweets but also community visits to cafe's and trips out. I do object to it being implied I will pay every week when it is voluntary. It was in the school book again today and I had sent in money on Monday

As a CoG, I would be livid if I learnt of this... and would soon put a stop to it... there are other sources of finance.

As to VA schools of a religious nature, this is slightly different, as they receive a reduced budget and parents are expected to make up the shortfall and this is usually made very clear in the prospectus.