Schooling asking for money

[The90sKid]

Maybe I am being unreasonable but I would love to hear other people’s view.

My child is in reception in a government funded academy. School organised an event during school hours on school premises. It was run by a business (for profit) which brought bugs into the school for the children to see, touch etc.

School then sent out a letter saying said activity took place and parents should now pay £3 something.

If relevant, my child enjoyed looking at the bugs and school did work around it. They wrote about the bugs etc.

It’s not a question of money but I feel that education should be free. If school partner with businesses, surely they need to secure the funding.

AIBU?

Schools are under enormous pressure right now with a cut to their budgets. In an ideal world, it would free. However, to make things easier for the school and teachers, I would pay it (budget permitting)

Schools are desperate for money, our locals have been finding ways to raise money for years with activities, tea parties, sales, bonfire nights. Who do you think should pay, where do you think schools get their funding from.

It’s not a question of money but I feel that education should be free. If school partner with businesses, surely they need to secure the funding.

I appreciate you're new to having a child at school but I'm always staggered that the monumental budget cuts and stretched school funding have passed people by.

Most schools can barely afford essentials these days so yes extras like a visit or experience will need to be funded by parents.

They should forewarn you and have a pot of money for families who don't have the resources but I think extras like this are brilliant and well worth £3 - I think the 'for profit' business is a bit of a red herring as I'm not sure what other options the school has other than pay someone to come in? We've always had to pay for school trips etc, at least since I was at school, so I think it's an expected parenting cost.

There is definitely a wider issue of school underfunding but this wouldn't be a hill to die on for me.

In my experience it's commonplace to have to pay for things like this, but they would usually always give parents advance warning so that they can save/ decline / ask school for help with paying it. I've never ever heard of schools asking for money after the event?

They didnt ask for money before the event took place? That strikes me as bang out of order.

Im with you op. If it happens in school hours it should be free. But id probably end up paying so my dc could experience some more fun stuff.

Education should be free, and properly funded through taxation. But it isn't. I would pay if I could afford it.

DD (at secondary school) needs £30 per month for a school laptop (with all software needed and full IT support). It has meant the school could provide a full programme of teaching through lockdown - as long as there is provision for those that can't afford it, I just grit my teeth and pay - she's reaching the age where she'll need on anyway, and at least this way all repairs and support is included.

Education is free.

Extra nice things such as this do come at a price.

The school have requested payment and you are within your rights to decline.

It's not on to do an optional activity with a profit-making company then charge a random amount afterwards.

I wouldn't have a problem with being asked for the cash in advance, no problem at all - but the WAY it's been done is fucking wierd and surely sets a precedent?

I'd pay but i'd make it clear that they need to get this optional, profit-making company activity approved by parents beforehand, not being pressured to cough up cash afterwards.

It reminds me the way my sibling used to do parent birthday presents. I'd get hit 2 weeks before the actual birthday with a message saying "hey you owe me £25 for (whatever gift)", despite never having had a chance to input into set gift, nor being able to financially plan for whatver the cost was.

it's basic manners to ask beforehand, and puts parents in a crap position if they just don't have the £3.

(I am more comfortable now, but yes £3 would have mattered to me in the days where i had to put stuff back at the supermarket if i went over my £35 budget!)

Not in UK, for reference. We have several things like this each year & it's normal for parents to pay, even at state run schools. Schools need their $ for other things. It's only a few dollars. I'm fine with that.

However, a permission form & payment are always required beforehand.

The school should have asked for contributions before the event. That was bad on their part.

But your child is in Reception, you're fairly new to this. You need to wake up and realise how much school budgets have been slashed. Most schools do not have the money to cover 'nice' events like this. It is normal to ask for voluntary contributions for trips or activities in school. It has to be voluntary, but parents also have to understand that if the contributions don't come in, the trip/activity is likely to be cancelled.

Many schools are desperate for PTA funding to subsidise trips and events.

At my school, we don't have enough in the budget for glue sticks or card most weeks. Some days we even run out of paper for the photocopier. If the children in my class go home with Mother's Day cards or a nice piece of art or DT, it's normally because I will have bought all the necessary resources. The parents in my class would have no idea.

The government has screwed schools over and most people are completely oblivious.

If they'd billed it as an in school, school trip, because they can't go to the zoo/aquarium due to covid before the event it would have been far easier to swallow.

At our school it would be a voluntary contribution but I agree that if you're doing school work about it, it's part of school. Interesting that they asked for payment after rather than before, presumably to avoid non-paying pupils from being excluded as it would impact on what they can write etc.

I used to feel like I'd been picked up by the ankles & shaken on a regular basis when all of mine were in primary school. It was a never ending stream of letters asking for money. The charity days were the worst, new PJs or dress up costume each, then donation money on top of the usual dinners, trips, snacks, activities, swimming etc etc. Awful. It felt like enforced donation that required me to rob Peter to pay Paul a lot of the time.

Its not much. Just pay it.

They can’t force you to pay, but most schools are on the bones of their arse thanks to massive cuts to funding. If you want your child to do nice activities like this you’ll likely have to pay for them. It’s not schools being greedy. Believe me, they genuinely do not have the money to pay for extra things like this themselves.

Plus the funding situation has been made even worse because of COVID. This is because many PTA fund raising events have had to be cancelled. Our schools PTA raise thousands every year with match funding and this simple hasn’t happened. So schools are even more short of money than usual.

I would prefer that the school had just declared that they need say an extra £50 per month per head and be done with all the bake sales and international dress as a potato day collections.

@Volcanoexplorer

Plus the funding situation has been made even worse because of COVID. This is because many PTA fund raising events have had to be cancelled. Our schools PTA raise thousands every year with match funding and this simple hasn’t happened. So schools are even more short of money than usual.

Yes I can imagine that's the same for many. They have spent the last 5-10 years making up some of the shortfall through the PTA but obviously this year they won't have been able to do the usual events such as discos, summer fairs or Santa's grotto.

I can almost predict the increase in threads in the next few years complaining about out of date reading books, leaking buildings and lack of equipment.

Schools are and have been strapped for cash for aeons. That’s what comes of academisation because the money goes to the executives. If you ask many teachers what they would like as a present, they will say pwns, pencils, glue sticks and all the basics that should be supplied but aren’t. They would say that equipment for every child would be great and the capacity to get additional support for those who need it.

Despite this and the challenges they are facing and have faced for the last eighteen months, they are trying to broaden the educational experience of the children and it sounds as though it was a success for your child OP.

I don’t think £3 is too much to ask.

This will be the first of many requests, I would think that most people would be aware of the huge financial pressures on schools. They don’t have the budget for ‘nice to have’ barely have the budget for essentials. If you are struggling financially you can have a word with the school.

We the PTA try and raise funds for things like this, but we can't raise enough. I'm sorry that the school has to ask the parents to contribute.

Of course education should be free. And the health service should be properly funded and people should not be trapped in poverty. But 'should' isn't always reality, unfortunately.

They should have asked for money before the event but schools aren't hoarding parent contributions in the office or anything. There's very little spare cash in education.

In the 1970's when PTA's were being formed at schools my df said it was wrong and the government's would stop funding schools properly.
Here we are 50 years later and my df was right.

governments