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Refunded School voluntary contribution because of Covid19 closures

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Comments

  • #52
    This is it
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,689 ✭✭✭This is it


    JimmyVik wrote: »
    See., There is the problem.
    Same old single people out tactics that they use to extract the money through embarrassment of parents and children.


    Do you seriously see nothing wrong with this carry on?

    I didn't say I see no issue with it. My issue is with the Dept of Education and the Minister for Education, not the teachers and schools that are left begging for money because of them.


  • #53
    JimmyVik
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,367 ✭✭✭JimmyVik


    This is it wrote: »
    I didn't say I see no issue with it. My issue is with the Dept of Education and the Minister for Education, not the teachers and schools that are left begging for money because of them.


    Good. We are on the same page then. Its not right and should be fixed.


  • #54
    This is it
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,689 ✭✭✭This is it


    JimmyVik wrote: »
    Good. We are on the same page then. Its not right and should be fixed.

    Going by your previous posts, we're not even in the same book.


  • #55
    nthclare
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 3,315 ✭✭✭nthclare


    Maybe if teacher's engaged in Summer camp's over the summer and do biodiversity and conservation projects like a one week environmental course for the kid's who are interested in that kind of thing.

    Then get their two weeks holidays like everyone else.

    Isn't that a good idea ???


  • #56
    JustAThought
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,324 ✭✭✭JustAThought


    rainbowtrout wrote: »
    No teacher said it was fair, they all just told you what it was used for. That's not suggesting that it was fair at all. ..

    It was also pointed out to you that a school might give a refund now for the last part of this school year but there will be increased costs next year for hand sanitizer, soap, cleaning products, don't expect that costs will go down, because they won't. Again, all of this is beyond teachers control.

    One of My local schools simply pushed that responsibility back onto the individual paremts -each child was to bring in a washbag in with towel, squirty soap, & hand sanatiser. Far easier than asking a voluntary committee to take time from their families to fundraise for it, and a reasonable request.

    As said I would really expect the unions and principles to be negotiating for more funding for items needed like light and LX -I remember always layering up with thermals in school in the winter as the heat was turned off after lunchtime & I also remember the teachers making us push back our desks & do running on the spot or jumping jacks to warm us up as we went blue with cold! Then the next doors class would complain in about the noise! I think we can all see now the increase in our heat bills and how cold it gets when you are stuck indoors all day - no surprises that sucessive governmnents fed by the cohorts of civil servants after 40 or 50 years still will not fund schools enough to meet their basic overheads and running costs.Which is really a disgrace.


  • #57
    Abel Ruiz
    Registered Users Posts: 887 ✭✭✭Abel Ruiz


    rainbowtrout wrote: »
    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
    TheValeyard wrote: »
    So OP,

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

    How about just win the debate instead of getting the sly digs in???
    Why are you being dicks?

    Just prove how the op is wrong and move on. Get down off the hobby horse ffs


  • #58
    FishOnABike
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,549 ✭✭✭FishOnABike


    Ubbquittious wrote: »
    I remember during the heady days of the celtic tiger the primary school I went to sent a letter to all their past pupils looking for donations for some extension they were building or goodies to fill said extension with. On the letter it stated

    No donations under €250 will be accepted.


    The utter cheek of the fcukers
    I think that's probably because on donations €250 and over they can also claim the tax that would have been paid so €250 donation becomes €250 + €100 = €350 in their coffers.

    If someone donated €249 they couldn't claim the tax and it would just be the €249 donated in their coffers.


  • #59
    gnf_ireland
    Registered Users Posts: 431 ✭✭gnf_ireland


    This is it wrote: »
    A nice system? They're left short and have to make it up in some way or kids have to go without. Constant begging from the local community is not "a nice system". This isn't the school or teachers fault, it's Joe McHugh and those before him.

    If you need the money, request a partial refund.

    You're making this about teachers when it is them who often have to dip into their own pockets to pay for supplies for someone else's kids, never mind their own. They refuse to do that and your child goes without, that's the bottom line. "Voluntary" contributions are not just wanted, they're essential to the running of most schools I would think, which is unfortunate.

    To be fair to teachers here, the issue is the school system. The funding for schools is well documented, and if you are interested anyone can see how much funding a school gets from the Department each year per child and the different categories. Its not exactly a state secret. Is this enough to run the school day to day - absolutely not. Does it cover basic necessities including chalk, toilet paper, insurance, heating, broadband, electricity etc - absolutely not. If you want to know where the money is spent at your school - attend the meeting where the accounts are discussed

    So who makes up the short fall - well its down to the parents or community through fundraising and/or voluntary contributions. I am sure the teachers have no interest in being in this set-up either. Schools are drastically underfunded in Ireland, and this does need to change. But too many in Ireland are not willing to rock the status quo.

    The harsh reality is this funding will need to increase come September, assuming they find a way to go back at all. Who will pay for all the new 'hot water' (where ever it will come from) or the additional soap/hand sanitizer gel etc. It will fall back on the parents to do so, as the Department will be found lacking again.

    Yes, if someone needs a partial refund of a contribution paid, then by all means ask the school for it. I would not expect any school to volunteer it back, not knowing what is ahead of them come September.


    As for teachers, they also get a flat tax credit of 600 euro per year (without receipts) for expenses paid in the classroom from their own pockets. Some will spend this and lots more, some will spend this and no more and some will not spend a penny of it. If we are talking about things, lets be transparent and stop trying to make out every teacher is a martyr - yes some are, but many others are not.


  • #60
    gnf_ireland
    Registered Users Posts: 431 ✭✭gnf_ireland


    FishOnABike wrote: »
    I think that's probably because on donations €250 and over they can also claim the tax that would have been paid so €250 donation becomes €250 + €100 = €350 in their coffers.

    If someone donated €249 they couldn't claim the tax and it would just be the €249 donated in their coffers.

    We get this every year at our school - but mainly around the fact they are a registered charity and that donations 250 or greater can receive a tax credit. But I can assure you they don't turn down any less if that is all that is on offer !!

    They also remind everyone that some employers match charitable donations and they would classify as a charity in that case.

    Personally, I think its absolutely shocking that any school (mostly owned by a 3rd party organisation - church) should be set up as a charity and have to recover the shortfall in funds provided. In most cases the church owns the land and buildings - they need to either step up their financial support for schools or hand them over to the state.
    Every school should have been handed over to the state as part of the settlement for the institutional abuse scandal.


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  • #61
    anewme
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 12,021 ✭✭✭✭anewme


    JimmyVik wrote: »
    You would think you got nothing from the us.

    What about your parking space, the building you work in. The heating to keep you warm in the winter. Your staff room. Furniture. Your salary. And lets not forget, toilet roll.



    I was all for the teachers and supported them to the last in other threads I posted in, but I gotta say im turning.


    I pay twice for the school. Once out of my taxes and once out of the voluntary contribution. Now I am happy enough to pay it up to now, but dont start taking the P and trying to justify it.

    Probably one ouf the nastiest posts I've read on boards in a while. Begrudging a worker heating, toilet roll, furniture to do their job and somewhere to have their lunch.

    Reads like something out of Oliver Twist. That people should beg for working conditions.

    The real reasons for Op starting two threads are summed up in that one post.

    One of those people who thinks their tax pays for EVERYTHING....


  • #62
    Blush_01
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,016 ✭✭✭Blush_01


    anewme wrote: »
    Probably one ouf the nastiest posts I've read on boards in a while. Begrudging a worker heating, toilet roll, furniture to do their job and somewhere to have their lunch.

    Reads like something out of Oliver Twist. That people should beg for working conditions.

    The real reasons for Op starting two threads are summed up in that one post.

    One of those people who thinks their tax pays for EVERYTHING....

    Wait until he hears about the state of the health system.


  • #63
    Scruff101
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 250 ✭✭Scruff101


    No I will most certainly not ask for a refund given the expenses that might be ahead for our school.


  • #64
    endacl
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 22,353 ✭✭✭✭endacl


    Scruff101 wrote: »
    No I will most certainly not ask for a refund given the expenses that might be ahead for our school.
    You’re not doing this right. More indignant outrage please. And if you could remind us that you pay our wages, that’d really help too.


  • #65
    JimmyVik
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,367 ✭✭✭JimmyVik


    anewme wrote: »
    Probably one ouf the nastiest posts I've read on boards in a while. Begrudging a worker heating, toilet roll, furniture to do their job and somewhere to have their lunch.

    Reads like something out of Oliver Twist. That people should beg for working conditions.

    The real reasons for Op starting two threads are summed up in that one post.

    One of those people who thinks their tax pays for EVERYTHING....


    Whats nasty about it? Did you even read the post it was replying to?
    The poster said they get nothing from the parents. They do. No point trying to say they dont. So I pointed just a few things that seem to forget that they receive form the parents of the children.
    Or do they not get anything, like the poster said?
    anewme wrote:
    Originally Posted by rainbowtrout viewpost.gif
    We pay for our own tea and biscuits. Nothing is supplied. As for the rest......


  • #66
    Lux23
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,134 ✭✭✭Lux23


    I can't believe they still get away with calling this a voluntary contribution.


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  • #67
    JustAThought
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,324 ✭✭✭JustAThought


    Lux23 wrote: »
    I can't believe they still get away with calling this a voluntary contribution.

    I was reading a paper on the ESRI research & one of its contributors from maynooth university was openly discussing in their data and classifications ‘ free’ schools with ‘voluntary contributions’ that were in fact compulsorary! If the doctors and professors doing research for state research bodies like the ESRI are openly referring to thus casual contradiction in their classifications perhaps it is time to do some ‘independent’ research on adaquet funding levels for ‘free’schools.


  • #68
    tscul32
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,573 ✭✭✭tscul32


    My kids primary has a junior and a senior school. The voluntary contribution for the junior end is €50 per family - they get it from about 40% of the families. The senior end doesn't look for one. So just because they ask for it doesn't mean they get it.
    I wouldn't personally look for a refund of any payments but if you pay a photocopying/arts and crafts supplies figure then that could be reduced in September as there should be plenty left over from the current school year.


  • #69
    Murple
    Registered Users Posts: 337 ✭✭Murple


    To the OP, schools were open from the start of September until the 12th of March and closed from the 13th of March to the end of June, that's 6.5/3.5. Why would you think getting 50% back was right and proper? Do you not think that if the school has money left in the coffers that it's likely they will spend it on something that is needed in the school that they might otherwise not have been able to afford such as additional/ replacement readers or library books, maybe a new coat of paint in some classrooms, new assessment materials etc. We have signed up to an online system to allow for more admin to be done remotely. It cost about €1,500, an expense that we wouldn't have had any other year but which will have to be factored in this year.

    To the poster above who says there should be plenty of art/craft materials left, most teachers will tell you the money runs out well before the end of the year so this may just be the year that the teacher isn't dipping into their own pocket to pay for materials. Our art and craft charge hasn't increased in well over 10 years. Just think of how much the cost of thing has gone up in that time.


  • #70
    banie01
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 16,933 ✭✭✭✭banie01


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

    My Son's secondary is €400, TY is €500.
    No small chunk of change.


  • #71
    Donald Trump
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 20,226 ✭✭✭✭Donald Trump


    JimmyVik wrote: »
    Ubbquittious wrote: »
    I remember during the heady days of the celtic tiger the primary school I went to sent a letter to all their past pupils looking for donations for some extension they were building or goodies to fill said extension with. On the letter it stated

    No donations under €250 will be accepted.


    The utter cheek of the fcukers


    I get a letter like that from UCD every year. smile.png


    That's very cheeky in fairness. 250 quid is a bit of an unrealistic amount to ask from a UCD graduate. That's more than a weeks dole for most of them :pac:


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  • #72
    Jim Root
    Registered Users Posts: 487 ✭✭Jim Root


    nthclare wrote: »
    Maybe if teacher's engaged in Summer camp's over the summer and do biodiversity and conservation projects like a one week environmental course for the kid's who are interested in that kind of thing.

    Then get their two weeks holidays like everyone else.

    Isn't that a good idea ???

    Good idea this.


  • #73
    piplip87
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,147 ✭✭✭piplip87


    If the government funded education properly then this would not be an issue.

    Time to scrap child benefit and put that money into the education sector. Making sure schools don't have to go round begging parents for "voluntary contributions" to keep the lights on.


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