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?

We get to pay in instalments. I do pay it though.

@PegasusReturns

I think I worded it incorrectly, what I meant is that due to amount of tax I have paid and other do as well the education system should be funded a lot better.

Instead our government seem to piss the money up the wall!!

I think schools get around £5000 (don’t quote me I’m not 100% on that) per year per pupil, they should get a hell of a lot more,

I’d happily pay more tax if they actually ring fenced the money for education. The people the government are letting down is the next generation of workers etc, maybe they should consider that??

Bookworm4
Why is it a cheek?

Well, to be fair, it really depends how they do it. Are they acting as if this is expected of people? Are they trying to shame people into it (eg publishing how 'short' they were last term, etc)? They have absolutely no right! That's where it's a cheek.

I would pay it because I could but I’m shocked some parents are paying £500 plus. My parents weren’t working due to disability and would never have been able to afford this. We could barely afford to eat.

One state church school near us asks for hundreds each year. I can’t remember how they word it, but they are quite forceful about it - as far as they can be. Thankfully DCs schools are not so forceful but do regularly ask for as much as parents can spare. It is a very mixed area socially, so I suspect it balances out.

I’ve voted YANBU, but we have it at our school and I will pay it. But it’s very much voluntary and we can well afford it (Two of my older kids go to private school). It seems only fair we support our excellent school when we can - but I wouldn’t be impressed if the school was pressuring people to stump up, because some really can’t afford it.

arethereanyleftatall
The government won't pay. Whether they should or not is moot.

It's not moot at all.

You can't fund infrastructure via voluntary contributions. Only tax works.

One particular reason that schools should be centrally funded through tax is that anything else creates inequality. Have you thought about this? If wealthy middle class parents keep their schools ticking along with extra handouts, that sustains the government under-funding for longer. It goes on longer before the public backlash reverses it. That means the poorer areas, where parents can't afford to help out, and where the schools are probably a bit shitter to begin with - well, they get underfunded for longer, and end up getting even worse.
So giving £20 a month for your little Johnnie's school is a nice thought, but an indirect consequence of that sort of thing, en masse, will be that little Kyle's school at the tough end of town will struggle for longer.

If you really want to help, find the poorest area you can, and donate to the schools there. If not, maybe zip it with the 'shame on you' stuff.

My children go to a Catholic school - we have to pay a voluntary contribution to the school building fund. As Catholic schools are voluntary aided they are expected to pay a proportion of their own building and maintenance costs. At the primary school it's £45 per year per family (I had 5 in school for a couple of years) and secondary was £85 last year gone up to £94 this year.

What mrsbethel said.

There is no money in schools. I'm an nqt, spent the best part of £100 for equipment for my room, asked for a £20 piece of equipment only to be told we are really sorry but we can't (luckily a senior teacher had a spare) and then got an email today to say the stickers we place on books are too expensive and can we just now sign them.. oh and my two free inset lunches a year also were cut as it would cost too much money! If you can afford it then pay for it..

The £5000 is a notional figure.

The actual amount depends on....
Age of child
Pupil Premium
Academy or LA school
Free school
Location/LA
Historical differences that have lingered.

There is a scheme running to level out the playing field but it’s in a transitional stage.

@MrsBethel
Except from the fact that little Kyle gets pupil premium which is far more than the requested voluntary contributions.
So The opposite is true - schools in poor areas get £ks in pupil premium and dont need to ask for voluntary contributions; schools in affluent areas rely on voluntary parental contributions, and as is evident from this thread, many of those who can afford it, don't; rendering schools in affluent areas far worse off.

Don’t pay if you don’t want. It’s your kids that suffer, teachers won’t subsidise pupils any longer.

zip it with the 'shame on you' stuff.

I think that you should be ashamed that teachers buy stuff for your kids out of their wages when you could alleviate that stress with a financial contribution.

I was in secondary school from 2000 and parents were asked for £40 as a voluntary payment.

Term costs for HE and T&D were required.

I'm shocked at the hundreds of pounds some schools are asking for. I'm quite sure it's because they need it but surely hardly anyone is able to stump up that much.

Ours is £39, which is £1 per week of the school year. I pay it. I'm grateful that I'm able to and know that my kids are lucky to go to schools in well off catchments where the parents can afford to subsidise the cuts in funding and pay for decent school trips.

A teacher friend of mine told me that in the poorer end of town (she's taught in schools on both sides) the school trips aren't as good because the parents simply couldn't afford to contribute what they would need for it to go ahead. I often think about that.

In all honesty I don't care if school's cut trips. If money is limited, I'd rather they just concentrated on delivering decent lessons rather than chasing parents (who may or may not pay) for money to pay high insurance/coach costs.

There is no money in schools. I'm an nqt, spent the best part of £100 for equipment for my room, asked for a £20 piece of equipment only to be told we are really sorry but we can't (luckily a senior teacher had a spare) and then got an email today to say the stickers we place on books are too expensive and can we just now sign them.. oh and my two free inset lunches a year also were cut as it would cost too much money! If you can afford it then pay for it..

you should not have to pay for equipment yourself but you also can't expect to get free lunches ever. I work for the NHS. I don't. I also get refused basic equipment BTW so I do know where you're coming from. I just think you will confuse the picture here if you come across as feeling entitled to a free lunch at an inset day. Arguably that never was the best use of limited public funds.

All the people saying that this is fine, just go along with it and pay it. Are you also happy for the NHS to go down this route? £10 a month to the GP surgery, £20 per month to the local hospital's roof fund. Then perhaps Adult Social Care can have £40 per month towards staffing. Where does it end? Austerity was a political CHOICE. Creeping privitisation is the intended endpoint IMO, where people who use each service pay the entire amount: private schools, private hospitals, private care and stuff all for the majority who can't afford all of this.

Comparing with the nhs isn't a fair comparison @JeansNTees.
Helping to fund the particular school the child you CHOSE to have attends, is not the same thing as helping fund a hospital which people have zero choice whether they go to or not.

I would rather pay a direct debit every year or month than be asked for endless sponsorship or events for the kids they want cash for. Our head refuses to do this though.

They need the cash I know, it’s just hard work to keep on top of the various events and I’m happy to help but work full time.

“In all honesty I don't care if school's cut trips. If money is limited, I'd rather they just concentrated on delivering decent lessons rather than chasing parents (who may or may not pay) for money to pay high insurance/coach costs.”

Not disagreeing with you necessarily, but your post has reminded me of something.

I used to teach in one of the most deprived areas of the country. In my first year at that school, I encountered a boy who had never been on a trip in his life. Never been on a car journey, or on a bus anywhere. Never been on a day trip. I’d hate for schools to stop trips. In my view, schools should be a great equaliser; giving opportunities to children who might not have them at home for a variety of reasons.

Jeans- patients and staff pay expensive parking fees (if there's even enough spaces) and people are sometimes told to buy what they need from the chemist rather than expect a free prescription. I'm not in the sector so there's probably lots more examples like services being offered in fewer locations so people having to pay to travel further/take unpaid leave.

I think that many would support people being charged for not turning up to an appointment.

It is a conundrum, isn’t it? On the one hand, perhaps we all need to stand back and let the schools fail so we can show the reality of underfunding by central govt. On the other hand, how can you watch your child’s education suffer if you have the means to support? As a teacher, I and all of my colleagues did our utmost, out of our own time or pocket, to try to paper over the cracks.

We had a nursery who asked constantly for money.

Snack fees £1 per session morning and £1 per session afternoon. So £2 if staying all day which ds did, only problem I had with that was ds has Asd and at that time ate fuck all but for 2 years I had to pay it as when I brought it up that ds didn't eat but I was still being charged they conveniently changed it to include replenishing paint, shaving foam etc etc which of course ds played with so had no choice to continue paying.

Then it was money for dress up days, money for school competitions that I'm sure no fucker used to win. Money for Xmas concert tickets, Easter concerts, [insert whatever concert] the list was endless. You would be pounced on with a name card quite regular. They would bombard you with texts about the events and remind you to not forget your money, Then to top it off they brought in lunch fees but you still had to take a pack lunch for the child but also pay for the staff supervising even though ds had fully funded 1-1 money from the local authority because of his disability I had to pay additional on top, I couldn't afford it all in the end it was so relentless.

Ds school are nothing like it. Thank god! £1 a couple of times a year and the odd £2 for something they have made and then the usual Xmas / summer fairs but I feel we have got off lightly when comparing to his old nursery!