Doubts grow over Labour’s VAT plan for private schools

[Blanketyre]

Article in the Observer here:
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2024/oct/05/doubts-grow-over-labours-vat-plan-for-private-schools

I must say they've gone very quiet on it.

It's all a bit, everyone come in for the state run breakfast.

What a bitch

No, we had to save up! Hence why we can't afford an extra 4K per year

The breakfast thing is not because some people are too poor to buy a loaf of bread or a pack of cereal. Some families aren’t too proud- they cannot be bothered to either go to a food bank or live such chaotic lives it doesn’t occur to them to sort their own lives.

Evidence - Mum was a primary school teacher for over 40 years.

@cardibach you have quite literally said that good education should be for everyone? And not therefore be a luxury?

So which is it?

My friend is a secondary school teacher. She takes in a cool box of food every day for her English GCSE students. It's a very poor/negligent area she teaches in

I should add her partner is a chef so provides the food

Of course I understand that which is why it is not fair that only people who can afford to buy near a good school get to go to those schools. If it was done by lottery then the parents who are interested in their children's education would be split between all the schools and the children of poorer parents would get a fair chance. At the moment, they have no chance and it will get even worse when all the parents who can't afford the VAT buy up houses near the good schools. Well done Labour.

I hope that Labour make lotteries compulsory for all comprehensive schools.

There is so much double think on these threads. We get:

State schools are just as good / better than private but also paying for private means you are buying an advantage. Which is it?

If you do pay for private you are selfish, sharp elbowed rich person who gives no shits about anyone else but also every thread about school catchments advises to stretch your budget to get into a good school, thus using money to buy an advantage. But that's ok apparently, indeed that's what a caring parent SHOULD do if they can.

If you are using state, then hurrah. BUT don't forget to use your money to buy advantage with tutors and extra curriculars. And obviously go in and make a fuss to make sure your child is not unduly influenced by any "bad elements" in the class - get them into top sets for instance - but don't remove your child from a school to avoid those kids who vape, fight, swear at teachers because then you're a snob.

If you need assistance with SEN, especially ADHD / Autism diagnosis, usual advice is to go private if you possibly can as CAMHS is so overwhelmed. So buying advantage again.

Why is it only in this ONE area of private schools is there so much vitriol, spite and downright hate of children, usually dubbed "Arabella and Sebastian"? A pp had it right when they said you can tell a lot from the wording of the tweet on X - "our children" as opposed to those "other children" who can apparently get to fuck. I'll say this for Labour - they know damn well how to divide and conquer and get the 93% to salivate at the crumbs that this may or may not raise, instead of them kicking off merry hell at the lack of substantive investment.

Yikes – it's only painful for one of us at this point. I'll enjoy not having VAT slapped on me and having to complain about it every other breath. You'll find no pain here.

You can argue 'constructed personal narratives' all you like, when it's entirely clear it's wealth wealth wealth the entire way down the line and has been since the wretched concept of paying for education with that wealth began and segregated children before they barely knew the alphabet.

Will that continue? I've no doubt. But should it be tax exempt? Laughable.

One of the only sensible posts I have read on this topic

I don't agree on this segregation point these days. My best friend went to a very elite boarding school- I most definitely didn't! Our friends are a mix of private, grammar and comp educated. The same is true at work. I agree that traditionally this might gave been the case - but it's really not anymore.

Feels like the animus behind the VAT is a disapproval of private schools altogether.

There are many other ways if making things fair and creating access, as discussed on the thread. But these hold no appeal.

There is something very controlling and authoritarian about wanting all children in standardised state schools run from the centre.

I'll enjoy not having VAT slapped on me

It’s precisely these types of comments which are stirring up hatred. It’s the attitude “ha ha, let someone else pay, I’m ok”. It’s spiteful and nasty.

State schools have had to do more and more with less and less for 14 years. Private schools could absorb this increase if they wanted to. That’s what’s obvious.

Because private schools are over unrepresented in all the top jobs and unis across the board which perpetuates inequality. It’s a luxury available to only the top 7%. Which ever way you look at it VAT on private education very much needs to happen and should have happened long ago- alongside a raft of other measures that would help put a stop to the huge inequalities it buys.

Exactly this!!!

How can they when 75% of outgoings are staff? They also have to pay utility bills which have massively risen. This thought process is disingenuous and moves the blame away from Labour and onto the schools. Most indy schools aren't sitting on a big surplus

The vast majority of private school costs are staff. The only way to cut fees meaningfully is to reduce those staff costs, ie by paying less or making staff redundant. It’s precisely why the unions (known for their support of Labour) are warning against this policy. That’s what’s obvious.

Exactly

Labour can own this bad policy

The top 7% of what?

How do we stop the inequalities in the state sector then? And how do we stop parents buying inequality in the state sector?

Don’t make me laugh! State schools are managing budgets with crumbling buildings, far more need, far more SEN, far more poverty, far less resources, far less parental contributions, far more per head. If they can manage private schools can too but then private schools are running a business aren’t they.

Education is exempt across the whole of Europe as a matter of principle. So "it should have happened long ago" is rubbish. Only Brexit enabled it to be suggested

It’s perfectly possible to access those “top jobs” coming from a state school. Both I and my partner entered careers traditionally known as being full of the privately educated, having attended state schools. At no point did either of us feel at a disadvantage. A lot of the time, people are far too quick to play the victim card and blame everything on someone else. A lot of this “it’s not fair” attitude is stirred up by the media and, increasingly, by the Labour Party.

But state schools cant manage, that's the point! At least you've admitted in this comment that this is about bringing indy schools down rather than raising up state schools.