To not want to pay the school’s voluntary contribution

[Millie2016]

This is light hearted because I will pay it, but AIBU to think the school asking for a voluntary contribution of £40 a year is a bit cheeky?
Last year my child attended 3 hours a day at the nursery and we were asked to pay it. It is an electronic payment against the child’s name so they know who has made it.
I reasoned it helped the school, improved resources etc.
Every week in the newsletter they published how much had been donated and how ‘short’ the fund was i.e. how many parents had not paid.
The thing is, with last years experience under my belt I now know that the school constantly asks for money/stuff. Weekly! Dress down days, PTA cake sales and even £5 to buy a piece of my daughter’s art work.... the list was endless and relentless.
So I’m left wondering, does every school do this? Am I just being a bit tight or are they taking the P?

Like PotterHead, my school also hounded for voluntary contributions (and this was back in the 70's). My mum refused to pay, but I would be repeatedly asked by our Form Tutor, until either I paid up out of saved up pocket money, or they gave up asking, around about half term. I can't remember the exact amount, I think it was somewhere in the region of £2 per term, but in 1972 that was quite a lot of money! We were a hard up family, but I've never forgotten having to constantly make excuses to the teacher for not paying this 'voluntary' contribution.

I would pay it if they publish the accounts of the school fund.

No, you're not unreasonable.

On fundraising, charging for your daughter's artwork is a bit much. I quite like cake sales. We have a really disgusting ice cream van that lurks outside school all summer and one day I went to pick up DS2 and staff were selling icecream inside the playground - cheaper than the van, nicer ice cream and money to school. I wish they'd do it more.

Hoping we get a change of government to one which funds all our state schools properly - the latest government claims on increased funding for education are actually all about more free schools and other Tory favourites, not about addressing real education need.

Some teachers are incredibly insensitive and badger children over decisions their parents have made. I hope this changes now that schools are becoming cashless and all payments are online.

School are skint
Any money raised is used for your children, in one form or another.
It's £40.00 and you have already said you can afford it.

In the US the schools in richer areas are better funded than in poorer ones. Ours are going the same way.

Imagine expecting you to provide for your child.

I ran the school cuts calculator that someone up thread suggested. The school has lost £180,000 between 2015 and 2019. The junior school has lost more. The problem is, I don’t have any context to understand this figure, other then it obviously has a negative impact.

DD1's grammar school suggested donation was £50 a month! Some parents are made of money there, lots of kids went to expensive private prep schools, we earn good salaries but not in that range. I pay £10 a month on the basis that we don't really go to/ support/organise PTA events in the same way as we did at primary school.

I've never paid into the primary school fund as I've helped raise thousands and donated a fair bit myself through the PTA. And the accounts are freely available so you can see exactly what they spent it on. Unlike the school fund.

Around here the local secondary schools have started having PTAs, not just the primarys. They just don't have enough money.

It just means education is going to get more uneven.

Schools have always done this, not just recently with the so-called austerity. My parents paid "school fund" every term back in the late 1970s.

My DD has just joined a new secondary school and the voluntary funding they want is £20 per month. As yet I haven't returned my direct debit form as I've already shelled out over £300 on very expensive logo uniform. I've also paid something like £20 for a year of textiles materials and £10 for a year of science materials.
Perhaps if they hadn't decided that all children must wear the most expensive blazer and uniform for miles around they might get a bit more parent funding.
I do understand that funding has been cut and schools need extra money but I do get the feeling no real consideration or concern is being given to the financial position of parents.

@donquixotedelamancha
Whether schools should be fully funded by the government is a different debate. They are not, that is the reality of it. So, if you can afford it, and don't pay, who do you think should pay your bit for you? Remember the government don't (whether they should or not), they don't. So, that can't be an answer. The answer is either another parent, or a teacher; and that's really not on, is it? That's the reality.

But they are exactly what they say -"voluntary contributions". You don't have to pay. Basically if enough parents don't pay the voluntary contributions the extra activities won't go ahead.

When my children were at school the PTA used to do a lot of fund raising - discos, summer/Christmas fairs etc and the money was used for library books, play equipment etc. We were only asked for voluntary contributions for trips.

Does your school have a PTA OP?

That was interesting @kitk

It says for our school

"XXXXXXX's per pupil funding initially fell but has since been restored."

Our nursery is asking for £15 a week. I haven't paid it yet. I'm still pondering.

Interestingly according to that website two primary schools in my area lost funding. The outstanding one in a very affluent catchment lost half the amount the one in the poorer area did (presumably the one in the poorer area had more extra funding to lose.) The one in the affluent area has now apparently had its funding restored. The one in the poorer area is still losing out.

My kids school always do it in sponsorships they don't just ask outright!

We're doing a sponsored walk next week around the grounds (very big!) kids and parents can join in too, every child from Reception to Year 6 can join in. You sponsor the child, and they choose how many laps they'll do. Exercise, fun and money collected for a brand new classroom to be built.

Happy to do it because they go out of their way to provide so many free extra clubs and activities too.

My DD school asks for £10 pa each for Art, Cooking, Woodwork supplies. Which is very reasonable, although in Scotland the school has had cuts but not hugely affected the pupils yet.

Cheap at the price, I think. 2K per child at our state secondary school. But still much much cheaper than a private school....

YANBU though. If I paid yet another direct debit a month I'd be in debt. And parents who CAN afford it shouldn't have to if I shouldn't have to.

I just think it's cheeky and lazy. Do some sponsorships, fundraisng, get the kids involved, parents are far more likely to pay then! - don't just say "give us money".

I’m not in the UK but my children attended public primary school here and the quest for $$ was relentless. I was paying approx equivalent of £1400/year.

It’s due to shortfalls in funding in education. Our school was high socioeconomic so in the main people could afford it and often people chipped in extra again as they were saving themselves the cost of private by going public so we’re happy to do so. The sad reality is that schools in low socioeconomic areas just don’t get what they need as parents simply can’t chip in the extra. That’s the crime.

The thing that annoyed me no end was everything was cash (in a school envelope with kids name and each kid had to have their own envelope apart from the once a year ‘family’ fee). It meant we were forever racing down the supermarket the night before, getting something not really needed to get money out, then buying a 99c box of crackers to split the note as required between the kids, pleading with the poor checkout person who never had the right notes/coins left. Was shit. I asked the school if I could just give them a bulk payment of $1000 at a time and they take all the buts and pieces out and I would replace when it ran out. Nope. Nope. Too much of an admin burden apparently. Christ I’m glad that period of my life is over.

@Lindy2
I agree, the English schools seem rather obsessive about uniform, maybe if there were less restrictions on where to buy and the demand for logo items parents would be more willing and able to contribute to the school. My DD has a uniform but no logo items, shirt and tie must be worn, black skirt or smart trousers; no leggings or trainers, they look smart and doesn’t cost a fortune.

I ran the school cuts calculator that someone up thread suggested. The school has lost £180,000 between 2015 and 2019. The junior school has lost more. The problem is, I don’t have any context to understand this figure, other then it obviously has a negative impact.

Well... imagine how many staff salaries £180k would cover. Then remember that since 2015 actual costs have increased (electricity, stationery, paper towels, salaries, etc) so your school is actually down much more than £180k in real terms.

I work in a school office and we are cutting costs as much as possible. We can no longer afford ‘securicor’ collections for our banking so my colleague and I take it in turns to take money, in our own time, to the bank... it makes us nervous but has to be done. We need to take photos of any children who have medical or dietary needs and our small cameras broke last term. Obviously we can’t use our phones so I bought a small cheap digital camera from Amazon..with my own money. I regularly provide small office supplies myself as we don’t have the budget for notebooks, paper clips etc. Parents are supposed to bring/send money in named envelopes so that we can allocate it correctly but often can’t be bothered so I buy cheap envelopes so that I don’t end up with a pile of random cash and no idea what it’s for every morning. Then you get the parents who can’t do right money and want change sent home - which again needs an envelope.....

We are having to seriously consider redundancies having already reduced people’s hours (although they are still doing the hours - unpaid).

It is bad that schools have to beg for contributions (my school doesn’t) but we are so seriously cash strapped that education WILL suffer.

Even when my children were at School about 10 years ago we were being expected to pay for School trips .Shows, a termly fee and Swimming Lessons!.There is even less money now so they have to try to fundraise a lot .Bear in mind that in some countries Schooling is not free and in Australia some states charge as far as I know.We could afford to pay and always did .I would hope that the poorer parents would not be expected to pay if it would harm their own finances !