Schools facing charity rules threat
Parents who educate their children privately will face higher fees as schools are forced to fund more places for poor pupils to meet new charity guidelines, an education leader has warned.
David Lyscom, head of the Independent Schools Council (ISC) accused the Charity Commission of taking a "narrow" approach to new rules which say that charitable organisations must prove they exist for the wider "public benefit".
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Warning that parents who educate their children privately will face higher fees
The rules meant that private schools which hold charitable status must prove they benefit children who can't afford their fees.
The commission published the results of the first public benefit assessments - which looked at whether 12 different charities - including five independent schools - are meeting the new requirements.
Two schools, St Anselm's prep school in Derbyshire and Highfield Priory in Lancashire failed the tests because they were not providing enough bursaries, or subsidised places, for poorer pupils.
Both schools did meet the test in terms of working with the wider community, sharing facilities with state schools, and offering joint classes with state schools.
Mr Lyscom said there was concern about the outcome of the pilot assessments. He explained: "We are deeply disappointed with the approach taken by the Charity Commission, which focuses on the amount of means-tested bursaries provided by each school.
"The implication of the commission's findings appears to be that many schools must now aim to provide a significant - but still unspecified - proportion of their turnover in full bursaries. This will inevitably lead to fee increases for the vast majority of parents, putting the benefits of an independent education beyond the reach of a greater number of children."
Dame Suzi Leather, chairman of the commission, said charities were doing a "fantastic" amount of good.
"The majority of the charities we've assessed are already providing public benefit in a variety of ways. The other charities are capable of doing so and remain registered, but they must now agree with us in the next 12 months the changes that are needed."
Comments
by Rufus, Essex
Saturday, December 18 2010, 7:16PM
“So, tell me Cameron, what's the differnce between your government and the last Labour one ? Like Labour, the Tories seem to be every bit as anti-private education.
Parents have the legal right to educate their children independently of the state sector at home. This is because state schools are in such a diabolical condition. Discipline is absent in state primaries and comprehensives, with children running riot and destroying the education of their peers with impunity.
Teachers are powerless, demoralised
and abandoned by headteachers. Many teachers are routinely verbally and physically abused by their pupils, who do so with few sanctions from headteachers.
State schools also brainwash their pupils with marxist propaganda bilge, thanks largely to communist LEAs and the last rotten Labour government (although the Tories are hardly reversing the rot).
No self-respecting parent would want to send their child to a state school that's in the educational gutter. Why should a working-class child have to attend his or her local slum of a state school, just because their parents aren't well off enough to send them to a private one ?
The government has a duty to help parents and children who want to pursue home education, not penalise them.
The ConDem government is hampering such parents and their children as much as the useless Blair and Brown did.”