There is no such thing as free public education in South Australia.
We’re faced with paying $680 to send Kathleen and Michael to high school and a lesser amount for Jim and Maggie to attend primary school.
All up it will cost about $1000 plus more for stationery and excursions.
Juliet organised with the high school for us to pay by instalments, but they still sent us a statement this week threatening legal action if we don’t pay the balance of $540 within 14 days.
We’ll pay the invoice, but I think it’s disappointing the principle of free education for all has been abandoned.
I noted in The Border Watch last November the total amount owed to state schools through unpaid materials and services fees had reached $4.47m and was expected to grow.
At one level, charging parents for public education encourages them to more seriously consider the option of sending their children to private schools.
At another level, struggling parents face additional financial strain.
Principals are in a no-win position. It’s difficult for them to send debt collectors to families whose children they have a duty to teach.
But if they don’t recover the money their budgeted revenue falls short of expectations.
The fairest system would be for all tuition and services to be free, except excursions and replacement stationery.
Implementing this would require additional government investment in education.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s promise that every student should have a computer might be better adjusted to commit that every child in Australia should have a free education.
Such a “revolutionary” idea seems to have escaped governments who insist on charging Australian families to teach their children.
Our education is free to grade 12 but property owners must pay a ‘school tax’ that goes to whatever school district they happen to live in, regardless of whether or not they have children. This is added to their yearly property tax. As a result, funds are often short and the PTO sets several fundraisers to pay for various expenses. In a way, we end up paying for their education anyway.
We also have no uniforms in most public schools.
There’s got to be a happy medium somewhere where education can find the funds it needs to run without breaking the bank for parents and homeowners.
There is always a dollar sign in your face.
Costs you when you are born.
Death doesn’t give you a free ride either.
No such thing….as a free lunch.
Pretty soon we will be smacked with a fee for having an original opinion or, thought.
Scary huh? Whats the worse thing that could happen if we didn’t pay up?
Prison time…not agood idea. Costs too much to punish us for not paying our bills.
Twitter: mgorey
says:
Sue, your situation sounds similar with different names. I can’t imagine property owners would be too pleased about a school tax, especially if they don’t have children.
Our schools have fundraisers too. We delivered phone books!
As a child I attended public schools. School fees covered all learning tools.
I remember new text books as a South Australian student. Changing schools during my secondary education, from South Australia system to N.S.W. meant a complete change from new text books to very old second hand texts.
I fondly recall a copy of the “Rhyme of The Ancient Mariner” being printed in about 1930. It was dog-eared and smelt musky, but I loved that it was ‘mine’ for a year.
Many years later….I am paying $200.00 a month in student fees to study in my own time, from a tertiary college interstate, because it targets distance learning opportunities in rural areas. Some text books are included in my fees, everything else I need, I have to be responsible for.