Prioritizing Tuition (Split from School Closing)

yummymummy

Tue, Nov 09 2010, 1:36 pm

chavamom wrote:

JAWSCIENCE wrote:

Communal, meaning even those parents who currently get breaks. This just allows them t make a contribution over a greater period of time. The tuition alone is not going to cover the school in terms of buying buildings etc. But it will keep the day to day costs managed. And if all the parents that currently get breaks had to pay that huge bill then there would be more voices expressing concern over wasteful spending and administrative glut.

There is the assumption that that is what is going on in schools. I don't think it's the case in any of the schools my kids are in...and full tuition is still plenty. Your idea has the potential to cripple families financially for a lifetime.

Again full tuition will go down as more parents are required to pay their share (over time).

Your post brings up another interesting point, though - TRANSPARENCY. In most schools, parents and the community have no idea how much of a school's budget is filled with bloat and how much of the tuition and fund raising is well spent to give students the best education for their buck. Under any communal tax system this would have to change, which brings me to my next issue with a communal tax system:

Too often it turns into the community writing a blank check for school expenses. One need look no further than the public school system budgets in this country to see what happens when taxes can be heaped on homeowners to pay for education expenses. Cost benefit analysis? Please. Money is just thrown at the problems in the public school system but at least there taxpayers can try to elect officials who promise they will reign in the spending. How do we propose keeping the Kehilla tax from crippling families financially for a lifetime?

mirror

Tue, Nov 09 2010, 3:48 pm

I know people who are on the local school boards in my old neighborhood.

The full tuition plus donations are absolutely necessary to run a school.

I think that if you were to analyze the money, you would find that there is very little waste.

As it is, the teachers don't make enough and many schools don't pay on time.

chavamom

Tue, Nov 09 2010, 4:12 pm

OPINIONATED wrote:

Yup. And then you have people with tainas about how the money is spent, so they won't donate....and I know plenty of parents and former parents who fit this description. One wealthy (think "inheritance from major corporation wealthy") former parent who is convinced that a certain HS is responsible for his son's poor grades that kept him out of Harvard and so he does everything he can to sabotage the school. Nice, eh?

yummymummy

Tue, Nov 09 2010, 9:48 pm

OPINIONATED wrote:

So then why are many schools so secretive with their books? If they're not hiding anything then why not provide full disclosure? Why won't they provide a breakdown of their costs, and how about scholarship information?