Five lessons parents can learn on how to fight back on school costs

Are you up in arms over the high cost of sending children to school when education is meant to be free? Well, don’t just sit there fuming, do something about it! Last week we highlighted how parents are forced to buy pricey iPads and ebooks because neither the schools nor the Government are doing enough to help them meet rising school costs.

That’s just the tip of the iceberg. The same story – and worse – applies to a host of other costs, which now add up to €1,400 a year.

The money parents have to spend on uniforms (covered below) is going up every year. Barnardos found that ‘the average cost for uniforms in secondary school this year is €200. Just 2% of parents indicated their uniform costs had fallen… a large number (41%) said their costs had increased’.

Also up this year are ‘voluntary contributions’ which are among the most abject tricks of all those used by politicians to pull the wool over our eyes. The State is underfunding schools despite a constitutional and political commitment (going back to 1937 in Fine Gael’s case) that education should be ‘free’.

The average capitation grant of just 97c per pupil per day covers just over half of school running costs.

A primary school pupil could do the sums and conclude that the shortfall cannot be met by a contribition that is merely ‘voluntary’.

The running of schools is made harder by the Government insisting that the contribution is voluntary.

The voluntary bit is a fig leaf to cover its abject failure to meet its constitutional obligations to fund schools properly.

Or even if it were truly voluntary, there will be chaos with uneven funding in some years, inequal contributions from parents and all sorts of time-wasting shenanigans to make them cough up.

The Government hopes that we won’t notice that these costs are passed on us.

In reality the voluntary contribution is a stealth tax – a sneaky way to tax us without being seen to do so.

Education Minister Richard Bruton has assured parents that they should never be coerced into paying a voluntary contribution.

Yet ‘voluntary contributions are anything but voluntary,’ says Ross McMahon, spokesman for the National Parents Council PostPrimary.

Some schools have even shamed pupils by depriving them of lockers to force parents to pay up, he revealed.

‘Our view is that forcing parents to pay the fee by means of depriving students of lockers if not paid puts students in an invidious position,’ he said.

‘We have sympathy for school principals and managers.

‘The department needs to be more demonstrative in terms of school funding. Promises have been made.’

Over 2,200 parents completed Barnardos 2018 School Costs Survey. The resounding message was: ‘They are sick of struggling to pay for so-called free education, and want to see meaningful change,’ Barnardos stated.

It is ‘calling on all politicians to finally tackle the burden of school costs and make free education a political priority’.

You too can play a part in helping to fix this. Here’s how...

USE YOUR VOTE

Ask your local politician where they stand on the issue – and vote accordingly. The main parties’ positions on voluntary contributions are outlined in our panel (right).

SIGN A PETITION

Barnardos have a letter you can sign on its website. This will be sent to each TD, along with your comments to ‘let them know that their constituents want them to take action on this issue’. The petitition is in the latest news section of its website Barnardos.ie

GO BACK TO SCHOOL YOURSELF

Join your school and local parents’ association to let them know how you feel. It there isn’t one, the National Parents Council offers advice on setting one up – or you can join it as an individual. The NPC Primary helpline number is (01) 887 4477.

When we contacted Education Minister he said he ‘intends to shortly publish the Parent and Student Charter Bill 2018, which will require schools to consult with parents’ on items such as school costs, and to invite feedback’.

If he does fulfil this promise, be sure to use it. If he doesn’t, you know how to vote.

MAKE SOME NOISE

Is your school taking extreme measures to make ends meet? Is it asking parents to clean the school, as some are? Is it harrassing you by text and email? Is it singling out pupils, asking them to carry notes home from school and even removing school locker privileges, all of which could be damaging to your child? You can highlight these issues by contacting the National Parents Council which will advise on complaints procedures. You could also highlight your complaints on social media and/or send details to us at bill.tyson@ mailonsunday.ie

SHOP AROUND

Watch out for late summer discount deals on all school items. See also our survey on uniform costs (below right).