Voluntary contributions have always been of a voluntary nature. We have been advised to review our current voluntary contributions and school fee structures. Following the events of last year including drought, bushfire and COVID 19, we recognise even more families have been under financial pressure. Please ensure you make it clear to your school community that any requests for financial contributions are entirely voluntary.

Last week we received an email from Deputy Secretaries Murat Dizdar and Leanne Nixon with details.

At the beginning of each year the Department provides advice on assessed state-wide averages and maximum escalation factors for the school year. The advice for 2021 can be found on the Schools Finance website. The Department’s FISH (Finance in Schools Handbook), Section 5.3 School generated revenue, covers expectations regarding voluntary school contributions and elective subject contributions.

The policy on voluntary contributions includes:

• all students must have access to the total school curriculum
• no student can be denied the opportunity to meet syllabus requirements because of the non-payment of voluntary school contributions
• no parent should feel overstretched in any way to contribute to additional resourcing
• Principals and staff must ensure that no student or family suffers discrimination or embarrassment regarding voluntary school contributions and maintain confidentiality in dealing with these matters.