A NEW KIND OF SCHOOL REFUSAL

PRIVATE SCHOOL’S REFUSAL TO ALLOW STATE SCHOOL USE OF FACILITIES IS SELFISHNESS IN CARNATE says South Dorset parliamentary candidate.


South Dorset’s Lib Dem Parliamentary Candidate, Cllr Ros Kayes has slammed the Independent Schools’ Council (ISC) following a statement by its chief executive earlier this week that the LSC intends to challenge the Charity Commission in court.

The Commission has interpreted legislation passed in 2006 by insisting that schools should pass a new “public benefit test” to continue to qualify for charitable status & tax breaks worth millions of pounds every year.

That would mean allowing state pupils to use their facilities & having a number of free state bursaries to allow limited number of children from poor backgrounds to attend the schools for free.

“If the private schools challenge this”, said Ros, “it makes them no different from the banks ! In receipt of millions of pound of public money every year in the form of tax breaks because they claim to exist for charitable purposes. This stretches the definition of charity very far”, she continued. ”Fees at these schools are very high – more than most of us earn in a year for the top schools. In my opinion, with parents who can afford these fees, schools should not be claiming charitable status at all. It’s charity for the very rich.

The schools claim that without their existance, ordinary tax payers would be having to pay £3 to 4 million extra in taxes and therefore they ae already giving aid to the poor. “A ridiculous argument !” said Cllr Kayes. “ How much do the tax breaks schools receive already cost us in lost revenues that could be ploughed back into the state system. On the contrary, if private schools did not exist, those same parents would be sending their children to comprehensive schools & giving generously to those schools to ensure that their facilities were upgraded instead – improving education for all of us.

“It’s selfishness incarnate to seek to challenge legislation that attempts to make private schools take some responsibility for supporting the public sector & at least goes some way to improving education for all of us.”.