Kier starmer! He hates strivers!

[Bucketheadbucketbum]

He wants to introduce a policy to put up the cost of school fees 10 to 15%. This is a tax on hard-working parents! We slave away cutting cots everywhere living hand to mouth to try and improve our childrens future . Live in an average house average area 1 shit car no holidays work like a dog to get our kids through. We are easing the burden on the state system by choosing independent schools. We're not sending them to Eton paid by our trust fund! Why does he want to punish strivers! Tax the energy companies! So disappointed. We need a new political party. What's the point in trying to better your future.

Keir Starmer is a state school kid who went on to become Director of Public Prosecutions and very probably Prime Minister. He’s the very definition of a striver.

He just doesn’t think we should use public money to give tax breaks to the wealthy to buy extra privilege for their kids. Attempting to buy privilege for your kids isn’t striving.

I don’t have an issue with them losing charitable status because they aren’t charities. It will almost certainly affect me as although DS is currently in state school he has suspected dyslexia. The school are doing amazingly at supporting him with what they have but the resources just aren’t there.

I have identified a school not far away that specialises in dyslexia but it is an independent school, in fact I can’t find a single state school that specialises in dyslexia. At the moment year 2 DS is working at nursery level in reading and writing. Unless there is significant progress in the next two and a half years he will join the specialist school in year 5 which is the earliest they take pupils.

If Labour want to make independent schools more expensive then that is fine as long as that money is going to improving SEN provision in state schools.

Don’t you see how bad having a two (well, three if you count grammar schools) tier education system is for society? In progressive counties, it’s unheard of. You go to the local school.

I don’t think private schools will raise their fees anyway, to be honest. I think they’ll cut back on unnecessaries. They can’t afford to lose clients (I mean, children).

There’s no judgment here, by the way. I don’t like the current education system much, and wouldn’t rule private school out for my kids. Not interested in hot housey ones, but progressive ones.

It’s not worth getting stressed and ranty about, OP.

He just doesn’t think we should use public money to give tax breaks to the wealthy to buy extra privilege for their kids. Attempting to buy privilege for your kids isn’t striving.

100% this. And private schools are not charities.

'The majority of people I know that send their kids to private school do so with the help of wealthy grandparents. No strivers just living if the previous generators coat tails.'

Same. MC kids with MC grandparents and a few who through work CAN afford fees themselves and have chosen to.

We can actually afford private fees, 2 WC parents who through education and jobs have enough money - with some 'sacrifices' - but I'd rather our children were educated in the local state school, and experience real kids, real life. Not be handheld and tutored through their education by people being paid for their grades. A two tiered system serves us all badly.

You choose to go private, that's your choice. But no-one is going to feel sorry for you complaining about the cost when there are many alternatives.

All of that creates inequality. I do not like the grammar schools system. We all know who really gets into those schools (tutored middle class kids).

But. Private schools are not charities. They shouldn’t have charitable status. They’re businesses and should be taxed as businesses.

Loads, including those that are for this. People move for schools here too. And it’s a bun fight which will get worse with Labour’s policy

'We are easing the burden on the state system by choosing independent schools.'

No you aren't. You perpetuating a 2-tier system. If there were no private schools, and all those children ( the children of wealthy, influential people) started going to state schools, those state schools would improve, there would be more of them, they'd be better resourced.

Our DC secondary school benefits from the intake being a mix of WC/MC/educated families. There's a wealth of practical trade skills they can call on and professional skills - they have parents who can fix stuff, parents who can give legal advice, parents who are into sports, parents who know how to fund-raise, parents who through their connections and jobs can offer so much more.

Don't think it would be quite the same if everyone's mummy or daddy worked in Finance or art galleries.

Oh please..... 🙄

Dramatic much?

The NHS needs saving. State schools are in danger of financial collapse. Adult social care is practically non-existent. Millions are in good or fuel poverty. Trying to raise money to fix the problems is not 'hating strivers'.

'This policy is popular. Only 10% of the British public want the VAT situation to stay the same'

Because private schools are not charities. End of. We're all getting a bit sick of privilege gaming every system to their own benefit.

'Its a luxury item at the end of the day.'

'Education is not a luxury item.'

Private education is. It's not as if the choice is private school or no education.

And as a luxury item, it shouldn't have charity tax breaks.

The problem is that you can't afford a service you want. Tax it fairly and if you can't afford it then you can't.

How far do you take subsidising private education? If the state would pay 50% of the fees I could afford to send my kids. That's probably around what their state education costs so wouldn't cost the state more. Would you say that's fair? I wouldn't.

If the PRS was contained people wouldn’t need to rent. They could buy.

People aren’t sending their kids to state schools because they are bad. They are sending them privately so they are with other kids like theirs. The 9 GCSEs and 4 A levels still gets you onto the same university course as the state kids.

ClangingBell
Keir Starmer is a state school kid who went on to become Director of Public Prosecutions and very probably Prime Minister. He’s the very definition of a striver.

Keir Starmer's state grammar school converted to a fee-paying independent school mid-way through his time there - he received the equivalent of a bursary whilst he was in sixth form (so we are told), alongside fee-paying students.

The walk home from the school run has provided me with a solution.

Private schools should be vat except for the first 6k/pupil, or whatever the current state cost of educating a child is. That would mean that the small non profit schools are not so badly penalised and the big rich schools aren’t cashing in

Educating children must be a charitable cause - how can it not be? These are children the state has failed to educate by lack of spaces/not meeting needs - non profit schools set up to help them have moral aims - to educate children the state will not. So let them have there 6k or so per child for education tax free and then tax the bit above - the extra that goes into fancy uniforms or swimming pools or whatever because that’s not education that’s just privilege.

i an lots of other parents at our private school do campaign for better state provision. We’re at every meeting on education in the local area asking when the council will provide school places for our kids. When covid struck and it looked like the school would fold we were campaigning for the council to take it over but they won’t. We would love love love the state to pay for our school - but they won’t - the building doesn’t meet their requirements but they’re also not building a school that does. And now labour (whom I have voted for) want to charge me more due to my “privilege” of not having a state school place for my child

'If the PRS was contained people wouldn’t need to rent. They could buy.' - @lightisnotwhite That's simply not true. Many people don't have deposits and don't meet affordability criteria for mortgages. There's plenty of unwilling renters in the PRS who have no other options.

And I am sending my child to private school because the results for my local comp are so appallingly low. As have many Labour MPs in the past who don't want their child to be a social experiment.

Well.. if more private schools actually offered a decent number of bursaries.. these tax changes wouldn't be talked about.

The ball, as they say in their court.....

I'm sure if Starmers back story wasn't accurate, you 'd be telling us lol!

But one thing is certain.... Sunak isn't tied up with Modi's India, supporting Russia against the UK and the rape and destruction of Ukraine.

Initially I was against this policy as I was focussing on those who would be impacted by it, i.e. those families just about managing to pay the fees as opposed to the super rich from UK and overseas who can easily absorb the extra fees. It would potentially push these students back into state schools and place an even bigger burden on an already struggling system. But having reflected, it is fundamentally the right thing to do. Perhaps in an ideal world, we wouldn't need private education if the state sector was properly funded and offered all children the same opportunities, irrespective of background. I can dream...

You do know that VAT has nothing to do with charitable status?

Education doesn't attract VAT. Full stop. Some private schools don't have charitable status, they still don't charge VAT on tuition. All private schools (charitable or not) will charge VAT on income streams that aren't exempt, such as facilities hire.

This wouldn't just affect Eton. University tuition fees, swimming lessons, music lessons you name it, if you remove the VAT exemption on education you affect all of those things.

If you think that the elite won't continue to game the system in every way they can, then I've got a bridge to sell you.

What standard? You cannot standardize IQ.
You are either academically measurably intelligent or you are not. Taxing people who are more intelligent won't raise IQ. Nor will it motivate parents to take an interest in their children's education at home.
End of.

Interesting but is this affecting VAT as a separate issue do you know?

Or is it just charitable status that won’t impact it