Well-off families try to duck school fees

Families who earn R1-million a year are unashamedly applying for fee exemptions from cash-strapped government schools.

This, together with an increase in parents defaulting on fees, is leaving many former Model C schools battling with budgets.

Under the Basic Education Department's fee-exemption policy, a family whose combined earnings are R1-million and who pay R40,000 in school fees qualify for a R10,000 discount.

The Governing Body Foundation, which represents about 700 schools, is lobbying the government to amend the policy to exclude families who earn more than R600,000 a year.

The move comes as schools increasingly resort to handing over defaulting parents to debt collectors and attorneys.

Brett Bentley, MD of Durban-based Bentley Credit Control, said that more than R100-million in fees was owed to 150 state schools.

He said the number of defaulting parents referred to his office last year was 10% up on 2015.

Douglas Brake, owner of CeeBee Debt Management Services in Johannesburg, which has 300 schools as clients, said: "I have some schools handing over to us for collection in excess of R2-million a year. These are your bigger government schools that have higher fees."

He said some parents owed as much as R100,000. "Parents see school fees as an easy debt not to pay. We also see people who we are chasing for debt living above their means. They have a fairly good lifestyle but don't pay school fees."

In a bid to ensure new parents pay fees, the governing bodies of Kloof High in Durban and Groote Schuur High School in Cape Town have insisted that they consent to credit checks.

Kloof High also asks prospective applicants to provide certified copies of both parents' pay slips as well as three months' bank statements.

An unemployed Cape Town mother said she had been handed over to attorneys for failing to settle R12,000 in outstanding fees for her two children since 2009.

The amount owed, including interest and legal costs, now stands at R36,675.

In January 2010, her lounge suite, TV, DVD player, microwave oven and stove, which were attached by the sheriff's office and auctioned, fetched only R820 - not even enough to cover the sheriff's costs of R931.

"I am unemployed; I cannot pay the outstanding amount," she said.

The national CEO of the Governing Body Foundation, Tim Gordon, said more and more high earners were claiming fee exemptions.

"There's certainly an increasing argument from parents that 'It is not my responsibility to pay for the education of my child; it's the state's responsibility'," he said.

Former Model C schools, which generate about R14-billion in fees a year, will have to write off more than R1.5-billion in income because of full or partial fee concessions to parents.

"We don't believe our [fee-exemption policy] should give assistance to the wealthy; it should give assistance to the poor," Gordon said.

"I told [Basic Education Minister, Angie Motshekga] that I would like to meet her to discuss an alternative model. I received a very positive response from her."

Paul Colditz, CEO of the Federation of Governing Bodies of South African Schools, said there was "an upward trend" of nonpayment of fees.

He said fees collected from parents went towards paying the salaries of the 150,000 teachers and support staff who were hired by school governing bodies.