Parents fork out £6½m for 'free' education

A total of 6.5 million was contributed through a variety of events from school plays to bake sales, the Scottish Parent Teacher Council (SPTC) has discovered.

Aberdeenshire was the local authority area where parents contributed the most, raising 172,850 last year. Fife parents raised the next highest amount, with 63,400.

Primary-school parents raised an average 14.83 per pupil compared with 2.41 per secondary child and 13.09 for every special-school pupil.

The full report on the survey, published yesterday, also found smaller schools were able to raise more than larger schools.

Parent councils also revealed they had specific fund-raising targets varying from 200 up to 19,000 last year, and there were 39 groups across Scotland which gathered more than 500.

The majority of the funds went to pay for books, including library books, then trips and activity days, followed by computer equipment and then outdoor play equipment.

Eileen Prior, executive director of the SPTC, said her biggest concern among the survey findings was that parents did not have a clear picture of their school's finances.

She said: "Either they are not getting the information or they don't understand the information they are being given. This is information they are entitled to have in a clearly understandable format.

"That concerns us, because if they don't know the problem, they cannot be part of the solution."

Parents have already expressed concerns about the rise in fund-raising for core items, such as textbooks.

Mrs Prior has said that parents had always been happy to contribute for additional items, but may baulked if they felt councils were depending on them to pay for crucial materials normally paid for by local authorities.

A separate survey by Scotland's biggest teaching union, the EIS, published earlier this year, revealed swingeing cuts to schools from language teaching to instrumental music tuition.

The cost-cutting, which includes redundancies, prompted a march of 10,000 teachers and parents through the streets of Glasgow in March and could spark a one-day walk out by the union.

The SPTC survey also revealed that the most popular events held to raise cash were social gatherings such as school discos, with product sales of items such as cakes and home-made crafts the second favourite way to find funds. .

Car boots and jumble sales were also popular, as were sponsored events and uniform sales.

Des McNulty, Labour's education spokesman, said:

"We have the unedifying spectacle of teachers being forced to buy jotters for kids whilst parents are being asked to fund-raise for computers and play equipment that should be provided by government.

"The Scottish Government will no doubt try and blame councils, but the buck stops with the education minister."

Michael Russell, the education secretary, said: "The generosity of Scottish parents in their willingness to contribute to fund-raising drives in schools is well known and helps to pay for valuable extras such as school trips and outings.

"The Scottish Government is giving an increased share of the budget to councils, so parents should not be having to supplement resources.

"The money they contribute should be providing extras to improve the experiences of pupils."