To think that improving state schools needs people to pay an e.g. a state school tax?

[Theyhadsomehoneyandplentyofmoney]

What with the current hoo ha about VAT on private school and commentary about equality and privilege.. wouldn’t it make sense to vastly improve state schools? And in order to do so obviously the government needs more cash.

Isn’t it reasonable therefore to ask anyone using state schools, to pay a bit of tax for that, in order to improve all said schools from their (often) current dire state?

Vehicle Excise Duty registers a car as legal on the public highways; road fuel tax, plus VAT, is a duty on the miles driven/fuel economy. The alternative is a road pricing infrastructure, probably using the existing ANPR camera network, which covers most A roads.

Plus for many schools catchment is not the priority for the entry criteria.

What about electric cars?

There is a gross lack of funding in state schools. There are however some things that could be achieved with little monetary cost. Those parents who do not parent could parent and schools could work together with parents to improve discipline which in turn would help with learning too. Might have a positive effect on retention too.

Very true! Admissions reform could make such a huge difference.

No, it's not reasonable. People already pay tax for this very purpose. Paying more tax will not improve state schools or the NHS because money needs to be funneled to exactly where it is needed and there needs to be a long term plan, just as there was in other countries who recognised their education was lacking, considered what they wanted/needed and implemented long-term change (e.g. what does the country need in the next 50 years and how do we achieve it? Is it a more digitally savvy workforce because we lack other options? Ok, how do we do that? We need to teach IT skills in school and support existing companies offering tech jobs and attract start-ups and tech talent from elsewhere etc). Britain has wasted time and money over and over again analysing how to replicate successful education plans from other nations. They know what they need to do to improve. They just always fail to actually take action. It's not a question of money.

🤣🤣🤣

Absolutely this

How does that work? We buy uniforms, pay the school and then don’t get uniforms! I don’t understand

But that's a completely different scenario. If someone can't afford private school, their child can go to state school (I appreciate it may not be ideal for many reasons, but it exists as an option for the majority). A quarter of children in the UK live in low income households. So many families wouldn't be able to afford any extra costs and may withdraw their child and then it's the child that suffers.

I'm not anti private schools btw. I went to one, and we may send our DDs to one for secondary school but that's not for a few years.

As for OP's comment that anyone who "uses" state schools should pay - we all use the education that state schools provide. We all benefit from children being properly educated.

Have I missed something? Will private schools be legally obliged to pass in the tax liability to parents? Surely they could choose to suck some or all of it up themselves?

Hallelujah! Thank you

That’ll really help those on a lower income.. not

The Tories reckon there's £6bn sloshing around from tax avoidance that is fairly easily recoverable so that might be a start...

They've earmarked a chunk of that for their bizarre national service idea, and their triple lock plus pension thing. It seems they decided they were wrong a few months ago when they said that the £5bn Labour said they could get from tax avoidance wasn't realistic. If only they'd realised it a few years ago. We could have had £30bn!

Stamp duty and council tax are far less than 20% of the property value.

I don't agree with VAT being added to private education, but this suggestion is bonkers.

What I would actually prefer is a general raising of taxation across the board to better fund schools (amongst other things) and for those parents using private schools (and therefore not taking up their £7k pa state place) to have a tax free allowance on school fees (capped to max of something like £5k rebate so that the state always financially wins when a child attends independent school.)

Financial disincentives like VAT which encourage parents to choose the option most expensive for the state (state schools) seems like a stupid plan to me.

I think we don't pay enough tax in this country. We want the benefits of good education, decent health and social care but object to paying for it.

Haven’t rtft but chucking money at a failing system isn’t going to help anyone. The amount of money academies have floating around should mean that they are the best in the country for most pupils, but that’s not the case.

The whole thing needs to be changed. Education needs to be about what’s best for children. We’re a million miles away from that right now.
Every school thread right now is highly critical of children and their parents - children who are in the middle of the biggest mental health crisis ever seen, nonexistent SN support, parents trying their best to help their children. It’s not working.

We already pay tax, but at this point education doesn’t just need more funding it needs fixing.

State education is funded through general taxation. There is a huge difference between provision in state schools, this should be reviewed and levelled although I don't expect many Labour MPs would like that because they want to maintain the ability to send their children to the best state schools, not the under city comps with falling down buildings.

And then there's the schools in the naice leafy areas where all the MC parents exclaim loudly 'why would I send Arabella to private school, I get all this for free' whilst simultaneously donating a huge sum in parental contribution to the school by DD each month to improve it even more and having paid top whack for a house in said catchment.

If Labour had any ounce of commitment to education they would stop donations or collect them centrally and then distribute extra to schools where no parent can afford it. I can guarantee most parents donating would stop immediately.

Parents just want the best for their children and those with the sharpest elbows invariably win. Please don't moan when you can't get your child into your chosen school because all those private school parents have removed or decided not to start their children in PS. People with money have choices and are mobile and pushy.

Private school parents seem to be sadly out of touch here. So far in the last four weeks I’ve been asked to pay for printing costs, a new art folder, a museum trip, a contribution towards running food tech classes and a voluntary contribution towards a new building project to improve the music block.

We pay our taxes and we also top up. The ones that can afford it pay slightly more than required so the kids on free school meals can be exempted but can still participate. A sort of local tax, if you will, where the money benefits all not just darling offspring.

That is a VERY threatening post.

Watch out poor people. The rich have admitted they’re coming for you if you dare to question them or challenge their status quo!

I would like to make a suggestion to redirect money.

The free school transport is only available to those who need it like children with disabilities or children who need extra care - and not as standard for kids who don’t have a safe walking path because their parents have bought an expense rural property.

That the free hot meals for infant school kids are only free for those kids who need free school meals or have another reason - and not free across the board to all.

That the nhs does not dish out free allergy etc food as standard on prescription - I am a ceoliac and technically entitled to free white gluten free bread and white biscuits on prescription - I don’t think it’s right that the tax payer should be paying for this stuff across the board when it’s not even healthy food so I don’t access it. And I get a portion of the population won’t be able to afford gulten free bread and that’s a different story - but not everyone should have access to.

@Theyhadsomehoneyandplentyofmoney how should state schools be improved?

Well I personally am involved in a statutory structure that exists in Scotland to support schools. So I actually have access to some ideas based with some (maybe too little) knowledge.

These suggestions are for secondary schooling and this relevant to Scotland only

We need more GOOD teachers in shortage subjects (maths, all the sciences, home economics and CDT)

Teachers need systems that allow them to appropriately discipline pupils and follow through on this discipline. Ironically pupils recognise this too and when surveyed they are the ones suggesting the harshest of discipline.

Parents need to support the school and their children. Parents need to be engaged. An engaged and supportive parent is one of the biggest indicators of attainment at a level that matters/is important to the pupil.

Attendance needs to be prioritised where it is relevant to do so (100% attendance is ridiculous everyone is ill sometimes)

Pupils need supported to have self discipline, self respect, self confidence and self esteem.

There's too much focus on resilience now and my opinion is resilience is decreasing.

A lot of improvement for attainment at school starts at home.

Parents should attend the course "raising teenagers with confidence". It's amazing.

I agree - and it should go directly to the local authority so that they can distribute fairly among the schools - and ONLY USED FOR SCHOOLS! And only for people earning over a certain amount.

Because currently, there are lot of MPs and other rich people proudly saying that they could afford to send their kid to PS and don't , but actually they are taking up a place in a better school (because of course rich people don't send their kid to a state sink school, but one of the high acheiving ones that the decent teachers work at), so i think that they should have to pay for that privilege.

Yes, i think that we should. And it doesn't have to be like USA (i have no clue why people think the only option is NHS or the USA system). Australia - loads of places - it's heavily subsidised.

And yes, i think you pay for A and E as well .