why doesn't the gov pay the parents to home educate if they want to?

[tinselwreath]

I just have a question as I'm curious what people think here since there is the obstacle of closing primary schools to keep virus numbers down.

Why doesn't the government offer the pupil funding to the parent instead? This could be completely voluntary but considering there is about £3750 attached to each primary school pupil, they could give this directly to parents at around £300+ per month for each child and not include this in universal credit calculation to make it more lucrative. Plenty of parents would probably choose not to send their children in and it would leave more space for rotas/social distancing for the parents who cannot take the pupil funding option instead. This shouldn't cost anymore money because it is simply taking the money that the school would receive and giving it to the parent.

How would the schools continue to function?
They would still have wages and the cost of maintaining the building.

Their budgets are set for the year and projected for future years - you can't suddenly pull a percentage away from them.

I think your idea is ridiculous and pathetic.

Your kids will be fine at school

How do you think they could fund the schools to continue functioning if they started paying parents instead??

The schools can't just lay teachers off - there is a redundancy process that takes time.

And then afterwards (assuming your plan worked) when the parents want to send the pupils back there wouldn't be the capacity for those pupils as they would have downsized the schools.

Even losing half a dozen pupils (or gaining them) can have a significant impact on a small school budget;

And if the parents can't teach for fuck, but just want the money?

Sorry OP but the more I reread your post the more flabbergasted I am.

How do you think there would be extra space and rotas if you remove the funding that allows schools to function?

What should they stop paying? Wages, electricity bills?

I don't want schools to shut, however, there are too many students in the buildings and it is unfair to pay the school when the parents are actually doing the work if the schools close.

But removing some pupils doesn't reduce the school running costs.

If you remove 30 pupils from a 100 pupil school you can't suddenly get rid of a teacher and using your plan the school then has its budget reduced by £3000 per month.

Eh? Sorry OP but you really haven’t thought the numbers through on this one. 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

Sorry £9000 a month

Also, what are the odds of the mythical 30 pupils being removed all being from the same class?
Let's say 5 or 6 per class - the teacher still has 24/25 pupils remaining so still has to do the same amount of work

90% of most schools budgets is for staff so your plan is a non starter.

@Seafog

And if the parents can't teach for fuck, but just want the money?

@Seafog my first thought, or can't be bothered and just want the money,

Will the parents then be required to teach the children to national standards and submit rigourously assessed progress data, as schools do?

How many parents can actually teach their dc?! How do they deserve the same amount as an actually qualified teacher?

Insanity.

They’ve never paid parents to home educate. In fact, you can’t even take GCSEs for free. It cost me close to £2000 to enter each of mine for their GCSEs and then the government moan that many home ed children take less of them.

They don’t want children at home, they want them in school. Once Covid is less of an issue the government will not want parents to continue home educating. So they’re not going to start paying them now.

How much money do you think schools have? If parents were paid this money would you expect the schools to provide the work still? How would schools pay their staff?

Because bad parents that wouldn't teach their children would remove them from school for the cash.

It's a pandemic, sacrifices have to be made for the greater good until things go back to normal. Otherwise we're going to have kids in and out all over the country with inconsistent education.

OP, everyone who has come onto the thread has pointed out that the idea is unfeasible.

It's not about sacrifices for the greater good - it's about practicalities and the reality of funding.

That's before we even get into the quality of education and the potential for abuse of the system

Are you on glue? I can't give up my job to home school and get 10 percent, well less, than my wages. If schools closed so be it but I can't give up my job!

What sacrifices have to be made?

This is insane. I really detest parents that think they are capable of homeschooling when they aren't and think they deserve payment for it.

Do children that go to private school get reimbursed for the money they saved the govt by not going to state school?? No! Because the funding is attached to the school place not the actual child. Good grief.

There are massive massive safeguarding risks surrounding extended 'homeschooling', even more so if there's a financial incentive for parents to off roll their kids.

Shit idea.

Sacrificing school budgets like will not help at all. And anyway, our budgets are set a year in advance. National census day is in the first week in October and determines how much money we get for the academic year starting the September after. You can't chop and change it daily.

@ineedaholidaynow

What sacrifices have to be made?

Sounds as if the OP wants to sacrifice teaching jobs to fund payments for parents