Refunded School voluntary contribution because of Covid19 closures

JimmyVik

So I posted in the teaching forum that I got back 50% of the "voluntary" contribution, as did a friend with a child in another school, and it seems there is a bit of a debate there. I was only posting to say it was a good thing and thankyou really..



Now i didnt realize but that thread has mostly teachers in it so they would probably be against giving it back.


So posting here as there are probably more normal parents here.


Have you got part of your voluntary contribution returned yet?


If not are you going to ask for it?


If you they dont give it to you are you going to "volunteer" to not pay it next year?


Do you think the schools should keep it.


Will you pay monthly in future just to avoid such a scenario should the virus take hold next year again?


Might be a better, fairer discussion about this in after hours.

Edgware

We have got a refund from the V.E.C. adult education section for a course my wife was doing.
I can see the schools being reluctant to return funds as they will be incurring a lot of extra costs for cleaning, sanitising etc.
Needless to say it will merit a call to Joe

JimmyVik

Edgware wrote: »

We have got a refund from the V.E.C. adult education section for a course my wife was doing.
I can see the schools being reluctant to return funds as they will be incurring a lot of extra costs for cleaning, sanitising etc.
Needless to say it will merit a call to Joe

Not up to the parents to fund that though.
As I said elsewhere. I will be paying the voluntary contribution monthly next year. And any attempt to increase it and I will pay a big fat ZERO for the year.


They have been taking the p1ss with it for many years now and I just happily paid it.

Edgware

JimmyVik wrote: »

Not up to the parents to fund that though.
As I said elsewhere. I will be paying the voluntary contribution monthly next year. And any attempt to increase it and I will pay a big fat ZERO for the year.


They have been taking the p1ss with it for many years now and I just happily paid it.

I know that it is not up to the parents but the Government contributions aren't adequate.
If you want your kids to be educated in a filthy kip don't pay.

Jim Root

They probably need the cash, I won’t be pressing the issue.

Blush_01

I think it's an interesting take, a bit of a "cutting off your nose to spite your face" move, but if you don't care about your kids not having light, heating, toilet roll, a clean school, soap, hand sanitiser, art supplies, sports equipment, that kind of thing, then great idea.

I wonder if I could claim back all the car tax I'm paying at the moment since I'm not using the roads?

rainbowtrout

Edgware wrote: »

I know that it is not up to the parents but the Government contributions aren't adequate.
If you want your kids to be educated in a filthy kip don't pay.

OP got that answer in the education forum but wasn’t happy that he was told that schools will have extra running costs and hopes the people in this forum will support his scabbiness

SEPT 23 1989

I won't be looking for it back

It's children's education we are talking about here

One eyed Jack

JimmyVik wrote: »

So I posted in the teaching forum that I got back 50% of the "voluntary" contribution, as did a friend with a child in another school, and it seems there is a bit of a debate there. I was only posting to say it was a good thing and thankyou really..

Now i didnt realize but that thread has mostly teachers in it so they would probably be against giving it back.

You didn’t realise there would be mostly teachers in the Teaching forum?

JimmyVik wrote: »

So posting here as there are probably more normal parents here.


Have you got part of your voluntary contribution returned yet?


If not are you going to ask for it?


If you they dont give it to you are you going to "volunteer" to not pay it next year?


Do you think the schools should keep it.


Will you pay monthly in future just to avoid such a scenario should the virus take hold next year again?


Might be a better, fairer discussion about this in after hours.

That doesn’t sound like much of a thank you, it sounds like a wind-up looking for a debate, if I’m being completely honest.

I have been paying voluntary contributions to various schools now for the best part of 18 years since I have had 5 children going through multiple schools. I pay these contributions every year, some years to 3 separate schools. I don't mind contributing to the schools, but when I hear the money is going to heating and cleaning etc, it frustrates me greatly that the 2 incompetent political parties that have been in government are unable to fund the most basic needs in the schools.
That said, only 1 school I pay into say the contributions are being used for extra curricular activities, school events etc rather than basic needs like heating and cleaning.
With Covid-19 and schools returning in Sept, the schools are going to have to now provide hot water and soap for handwashing (yes, this is not provided in many schools), hand sanitizer and other requirements to prevent the spread of this virus. Who is going to pay for all that? My taxes certainly don't seem to be.

byhookorbycrook

Perhaps the OP should have attended the school meeting where the accounts are shown to the parent body and s/he could see where the money goes . It’s certainly not spent on spa days for staff or even tea or coffee for the staff room.

BonsaiKitten

You know what? Teachers don't like that schools rely on voluntary contributions either. Teachers don't like that they are expected to fund school materials from their own pockets.

If you care so much, get onto your local TDs and ask them to press the issue. Start a petition online to increase school funding. But don't piss and moan at schools that are trying to raise enough money to literally keep the lights on.

This is it

Won't be looking for it back. I know the teachers struggle as it is to provide essentials for the kids and know of friends who are teachers who have to spend their own money on basic things like white board markers, etc.

As was said above, it's for your own kids sake.

TheValeyard

So OP,

That's two threads not going your way. How's that working out?

buckwheat

Only a complete arsehole would look for it back

gnf_ireland

Absolutely no way I would consider asking for a rebate on voluntary contributions from the school. Its actually criminal that schools are not funded to a proper level that includes basic running costs of heating, lighting, insurance etc. The schools should also be able to support a basic level of extra curricular activities out of their grants, such as sports and other PE necessities (and I am not talking about after school clubs or anything like that).

I am a firm believer that the children's allowance should be reduced by 40 euro a month per child and the schools should be paid the extra 500 euro per student - but on the condition that they pay for all books, copies, photocopying, etc etc. And of course, they would not be permitted to ask for any additional contributions.

Its a classic scenario of would you be willing to pay more tax for better services - those losing out on the children's allowance are the exact same people benefiting from the better funded school system.

I genuinely hope that COVID will see a transformation in the way so many things are run, and we use this opportunity to think outside the box. For that reason alone, I would like a second election this year to let the people speak again and see if it can make things better or worse - but the current situation is an absolute mess.

SouthWesterly

byhookorbycrook wrote: »

Perhaps the OP should have attended the school meeting where the accounts are shown to the parent body and s/he could see where the money goes . It’s certainly not spent on spa days for staff or even tea or coffee for the staff room.

Youre obviously in the wrong school!








Joking:D

Muahahaha

How much is the voluntary contribution? I remember it was around 20 euro in the mid 90s, where is it at now

byhookorbycrook

SouthWesterly wrote: »

Youre obviously in the wrong school!








Joking:D

Give me a few addresses ( won’t tell anyone , I SWEAR!)Monart here we come ( having hijacked the swimming bus !

We don’t even use the school phone for personal calls and buy stickers / prizes/ printer cartridges from our own money .

Ubbquittious

Is there any school that doesn't do this voluntary contribution bullsh1t or is it literally ""all the go""?

ILoveYourVibes

Muahahaha wrote: »

How much is the voluntary contribution? I remember it was around 20 euro in the mid 90s, where is it at now

About 200 for primary school and 250-300 for secondary now I believe.

It was about 170 for me in secondary.

Is there any school that doesn't do this voluntary contribution bullsh1t or is it literally ""all the go""?

Also its in NO way voluntary ..voluntary my arse.

Muahahaha

ILoveYourVibes wrote: »

About 200 for primary school and 250-300 for secondary now I believe.

It was about 170 for me in secondary.



Also its in NO way voluntary ..voluntary my arse.

jaysis thats a fair old whack from the days it was IR£20. What started off as a token amount has grown more than 10 fold. With two kids in secondary that would cost 600 odd a year which is a significant sum for a family on a low income.

endacl

JimmyVik wrote: »

Now i didnt realize but that thread has mostly teachers in it so they would probably be against giving it back.

Speaking as a teacher, I’ll certainly miss the extra income generated by my share of the voluntary contribution. Will have to rethink the new car this year.

:rolleyes:

You do realise the money you pay often means there’s paper in the jacks so your kid[s) can wipe his/her/their arse(s)?

2Mad2BeMad

endacl wrote: »

Speaking as a teacher, I’ll certainly miss the extra income generated by my share of the voluntary contribution. Will have to rethink the new car this year.

:rolleyes:

You do realise the money you pay often means there’s paper in the jacks so your kid[s) can wipe his/her/their arse(s)?

In my school (9years ago) we had to ask for toilet roll. Problem was if you badly had to go you had to run 1 end of the hall get the roll and key for the toilet then rush to the other end.

No such thing as hot water.
And contribution was around 100-150
God only knows what it will be when my kid starts school

nthclare

This isn't voluntary, I've seen it before and teachers calling out the names of the kid's in class or asking them to put up their hand's if they've paid the voluntary contribution.

Then it's easy for the other kid's to know who's paid and who didn't.

A very subtle way of undermining other students and making the ones who did pay feel resentful towards the kids who are less well off or who's parents said feck this. We've paid enough for books etc...

My son's very intuitive and it's easy for him to spot something that's subtly unfair or not right.
He called me on the phone and told me what the teacher did. Luckily myself and his mum who aren't together split it between us.
But it wasn't fair on the other students.

It's similar in housing estates from the Celtic tiger era, who's builder's promised they'ed cut the grass for the first ten years as part of the scheme.

Then the bottom falls out of it, the estate is three quarters occupied and it's left to the residents to get in contractors to do the landscaping.

There's always a few house's who are to the wire financially, and maybe offer half of what they're looking for.
It's dressed up as you're free to donate what ever you want, no worries...but it's 200 a year..

Annually they send out a list of those who paid and those who didn't are not included in the list.

I think legally they can post a letter out, but they can't directly say who didn't pay.

So in a roundabout way it's easy to see who's name isn't on the list....

Pure middle class narcissistic fckery going on there...

nthclare

Ubbquittious wrote: »

Is there any school that doesn't do this voluntary contribution bullsh1t or is it literally ""all the go""?

There's a few in Clare whom I'm told can manage their budget's ok.

But if you make account of all the photocopying distribution your kid gets throughout the year, it'll more than likely add up.to 30 euro's.

Where's the rest being spent ?

rainbowtrout

nthclare wrote: »

There's a few in Clare whom I'm told can manage their budget's ok.

But if you make account of all the photocopying distribution your kid gets throughout the year, it'll more than likely add up.to 30 euro's.

Where's the rest being spent ?

Ever seen the heating and electricity bills for a school?

nthclare

rainbowtrout wrote: »

Ever seen the heating and electricity bills for a school?

No, as far as I know schools have to provide heating and electricity for the students and staff.

I remember doing a tourism course year's ago, and learning about the early 20th century and each kid would bring in a sod of turf for the fire, I thought we're beyond that now.
Maybe they should bring in a litre of kerosene in their lunch box every day throughout the winter.

Or else they could all rotate their physical education classes and go spinning and have them all connected to the mains, so if there's 8 classes they'll generate enough power throughout the day.
And it can be a sustainable school, Gretta could cut the ribbon in the new green school..

Would that be ok ?

byhookorbycrook

There can be confusion between a “ voluntary contribution “ and certain expenses.
In primary school , photocopying, printing, art supplies , standardized tests etc. aren’t optional - they need to be paid, in the same way as books .
The “ voluntary contributions “ are an extra charge which may go to pay for electricity, heating, lighting and cleaning supplies .

rainbowtrout

nthclare wrote: »

No, as far as I know schools have to provide heating and electricity for the students and staff.

Yep and the budget they get isn't enough to cover the bills unfortunately. The voluntary contributions also cover things like toilet rolls and soap.

Ubbquittious

rainbowtrout wrote: »

Yep and the budget they get isn't enough to cover the bills unfortunately. The voluntary contributions also cover things like toilet rolls and soap.

2 toilet rolls, 2 bars of soap and the rest of it is spent on posh biscuits, comfier office chairs and high end Apple laptops for the teachers. Probably a few posh dinners for the teachers and board of management throughout the year as well