School Fund

[tallulah]

I'm a parent governor at my ds's state grammar school. At the moment we pay a "voluntary" £10 every September for each child. I always find that August and September are such heavy months that I struggle to find more than £10 (I had 3 at the school up to last year and now have 2) so I keep getting letters demanding the money! So much for voluntary.

We have a new over-enthusiastic parent governor just started and he has got a real bee in his bonnet about school funds. At the last meeting he suggested all governors should pay £75 each to start a "hardship fund" for the school. His latest idea that he wants to bring up at the next meeting is to increase the school fund to £50 or £75 per child. His reasoning is that it has been the same amount for many years, house prices are rising, everything is going up and there are lots of "posh new cars in the car park".

Me and a fellow governor were horrified at this and tried to explain that for every posh new car there were probably 12 falling to bits, plus just because your house is rising in value doesn't mean you have more disposable income. We live in an area where the original residents are probably on £10- £15k a year, live in little houses and can't afford foreign holidays, but the incomers all have £500k houses, work in the City and drive mercs and lexus.

My feeling is that it is better to leave it at £10 or perhaps increase slightly to £12, but word the request that for instance, "last year the Fund raised £10K and we spent it on X and Y. This year we'd like to do Z which will cost an extra £k so if you would like to give more please do."

I feel that if you demand £50 there will be an awful lot of parents- like me- who cannot afford it and will pay nothing at all rather than face the embarrassment of admitting they can't pay.

What does everyone else think about this? Is £50 a year reasonable, as he suggests, or would you have the same reaction as me? He seems to think that 65% of parents would be happy to pay extra (though admitted he paid nothing himself last year, despite being in the incomer category!)

I paid £15 per year at DD's comprehensive & I think £10 at DS's state grammar (not the same one is it? RS?) DD has now gone to a sixth form college where the contribution is again 'voluntary' - but unless you either give or send back the form saying you're not going to, they keep chasing you. They ask for £100 to cover the 2 years most students are there, but they suggest you pay by standing order/direct debit £12.50 per quarter which does make it a lot easier.

I think he's being very insensitive to people's circumstances.

Our PTA rasie funds for our school through organising events/ activities. We also sent out a GiftAid dd form for people to use if they wished - very few people opted to do it.

I don't think £50 per family (rather than per child) is unreasonable, and would happily pay that to improve school facilities and provide the "extras". And it is certainly preferable (IMO) to endless requests for different fundraising initiatives: especially the ones where you spend £5 on ingredients, and 2 hrs baking, to produce things which sell for £3.50 in total on the cake stall. I would much rather give the cash efficiently - i.e. directly - to the school.

But it does have to be worded sensitively to the fact that people are in different circumstances and some would not be able to afford this amount.

Afaik the school I work in requests nothing of the sort, and would get little more than a wry chuckle if they did. They run a few fundraising activities, but they are not very well supported. But it's a very different setting to the one you describe.

Hmm... I'm backtracking a bit now. It's hardly fair is it: if an affluent grammar school has parents who can afford this sort of thing then for a school of 500 children the school budget would benefit by £25k. Which is hardly fair on those students in schools where this sort of thing isn't possible.

There's a "state-funded" faith school in Manchester where parents are asked for a "voluntary" contribution of £1230 a year
That's outrageous IMO.

Ah but the school fund is as well as all the other fundraising events throughout the year- the non-uniform days, the raffle tickets, the various evenings and Friends events... not instead of.

I believe he is bringing up the proposal at this weeks meeting so I wanted to be prepared this time. From the spread of views on this thread perhaps he's right in saying that some parents would be happy to pay it.

I would struggle to find £50 or more if I had 2 at the school, especially at that time of year.

Maybe it's worth thinking about standing order scheme? Paying a few quid a month is more easily managed than all in one go.

Is the hardship fund managed by the PTA or the school? Is the PTA a charity? Worth considering the 'gift aid' thing if it is.

I think the new governor needs to consider parents who are less well-off.

I beleive that this sort of thing happens locally in a school that used to be private but is now a state grammar.

I personally think that it puts less affluent parents off from applying for places at the school. At the particular school I am talking about the children are required to have a uniform that rivals the local private secondary in terms of cost and how specific it is.

All this in a very working class area with one of the lowest average wages in the country and lots of unemployment due to the virtual disapearance of the local industry.

I pay £15 per year to DD's Comp but £100 per year to DS's state grammar!

Still, cheaper than private school & the buildings are beautiful but very old & need a LOT of maintenance.

Is that £100 a suggested 'voluntary' payment Milliways?

I think it's digusting. Education should be free. I teach in a secondary school in a well off area, and we ask for practically nothing. The parents in our catchment would be willing to pay a fair amount, as some are quite wealthy and v keen on education.
The only things we ask for are: 20p here and there for food tech. £3.00 per year to cover use of materials in Art and DT. This allows kids to take stuff home. Also charge pupils for colour printing as and when they need it.
The school is very short of money, and gets much less funding from LEA than other schools in city, as they tend to pour all the money into under performing schools.
If a child cannot pay, then they are not treated any differently than the others, and still get to do all stuff the others do.
£50.00 is ridiculous

The high school where my children go. Used have a school fund but it was only £2 per family. This has now been scrapped and we just pay for things as they come up. I would not have been able to afford £50

I worked at a school which used to ask for voluntary contributions for £10 a term. This was a few years ago.

I think £10 is definitely sufficient and parents should not be made to feel that they even HAVE tp pay this. Volntary should men voluntary and no reminders should ever go out. By allmeans word it so that is "suggests £10 per pupil per term", but also stress that it is voluntary and any amount no matter how big or small will be appreicated.

My ds has just started at a state grammar and we "had" to pay £25 for the year, but almost every week we get asked for money for t'shirt for drama, fabrics for tech,art book, language books,etc. I'm averaging £20 per month for extras on top of the £25.
I don't actually mind the money, but I wish they'd said at the beginning of the school year, "we need you to make a contribution of £150, we'll take it by direct debit of £12 per month " or whatever. All this drip drip of £3 here and there is getting on my nerves and I'm going to raise it at the next PTA meeting.

Roisin - It is made very clear at open evenings that by sending your son to this (VERY oversubscribed) school you are agreeing to this "contribution".

I think the girls school are £120!

It's gone up a bit Milliways - I'm surprised they never chased me for the extra!
btw (quick hijack) I gave the stuff to our community service guy, but he hasn't been here since - did it get to your DS & then to you?

The school I work in is massively massively oversubscribed, but what has that got to do with anything? We still don't charge. That oversubscribed argument is only used for Kids wwho won't toe the uniform line.
It maybe oversubscribed, but it should still be FREE. Rant....rant...

Rusty - had no internet (or phone) yesterday, but yes, recvd on Wed & their great. Sent an email earlier.