Page 1923 - Week 06 - Thursday, 2 May 1991
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MR HUMPHRIES: Mr Speaker, I thank Mr Stevenson for that question. My understanding is that fees charged by government schools in the ACT are voluntary fees. They are not fees which are levied compulsorily. Therefore, if a parent decides not to pay that fee, neither the school nor the Government has any capacity to exclude that parent's child from activities in the school.
Obviously, different schools have different levels of fees - some of them ask for more and some less - and obviously, also, schools put different emphases on the payment of those fees. I understand that, in fact, there are very widely differing levels of compliance with those collections of fees in the ACT. Some schools get virtually 100 per cent payment of those fees and - - -
Mr Wood: He was not really talking about the general fees, but specific fees for various projects.
MR HUMPHRIES: I think, Mr Wood, the same comment applies to both those things.
Mr Wood: The collection rate is rather different.
MR HUMPHRIES: I will come back to that in a minute. The fact is that some schools achieve 100 per cent collection rates and some schools get below 50 per cent. There is nothing much that the Government can do about that, unless it were to make the collection of fees compulsory, which I would suggest is incompatible with the notion of free, secular education. I am aware, of course, of particular excursions or activities which require particular amounts to be paid by students. My understanding is that in those cases the school principal has a discretion to waive a fee, and, in fact, does exercise that discretion in any given case if a parent approaches that principal.
If the parent does not respond, I suppose it is possible that a child might miss out. But, frankly, that is a matter that I suspect is very much in the hands of individual schools, rather than the Ministry for Education. I can assure Mr Stevenson that no child is disadvantaged under the arrangements which have been set out, unless as the result of some breakdown in communication between the parents and the school.
MR STEVENSON: Mr Speaker, I have a supplementary question. If I give the Minister details of where there must have been a breakdown of such communication, will he take the matter on notice and perhaps ensure that it does not happen again? A child has been disadvantaged because a fee has not been paid - not on an excursion, but in a class.
MR HUMPHRIES: I will certainly look into any particular case that Mr Stevenson has to bring to my attention, Mr Speaker.
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