Finance requirements
School budgeting and reporting for Parent Contributions must follow the procedures outlined in the Finance Manual – Financial Management for Schools policy and this Parent Contributions policy. These include, but are not limited to:
- school councils must review and approve, in a timely manner, any invitation for voluntary contributions or other payments from parents and carers (including for extra-curricular items and activities) that the school develops
- any voluntary contributions and other payments must be recorded in CASES21
- receipts must be issued immediately to parents and carers upon receiving contributions or payments
- records of voluntary contributions and other payments must be kept confidential
- schools must not enter voluntary contributions or donations into CASES21 until they have been received
- voluntary contributions or donations must be recognised on a cash basis in CASES21 and an invoice must only be raised when the contribution is received. An invoice cannot be raised for the total amount ahead of time
- schools must not charge late payment fees or offer ‘pay-on-time discounts’ for voluntary contributions.
Voluntary contributions
Schools cannot treat unpaid voluntary contributions as a debt, because parents and carers are not required to contribute.
Invitations to make voluntary contributions must not include ‘unpaid’ contributions carried forward from the previous school year.
Any new invitation for additional voluntary contributions throughout the year must be reviewed and approved by the school council and must be compliant with the requirements of this policy.
Extra-curricular items and activities
If a parent or carer has agreed to pay for an extra-curricular item or activity, but has not made payment, schools can send reminders as appropriate.
Schools cannot deny students access to extra-curricular items and activities that parents or carers have paid for while following up on outstanding payments for other user-pays extra-curricular items and activities.
Schools must consider how to offer help to families experiencing financial hardship on a confidential and case-by-case basis. Schools must also exercise discretion prior to generating reminder notices for unpaid items and activities for families experiencing hardship. Schools can find information about how to help parents and carers in the Financial Help for Families policy and in the Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund (CSEF) policy.
Schools can request payment for the cost of extra-curricular items and activities including:
- cost of transport, food, entry fees and accommodation for students and teachers
- pro-rata salaries of education support staff, where these staff are used for provision of personalised tuition in extra-curricular activities (for example, instrumental music lessons)
- cost of casual relief teachers engaged for the purpose of supporting the extra-curricular activity during its operation, either on or off school premises.
The cost of extra-curricular items and activities cannot include the salaries of department teaching staff.
Schools must not charge merchant fees associated with any electronic payment transaction.
Any new invitation for extra-curricular items and activities throughout the year must be reviewed and approved by the school council and must be compliant with the requirements of this policy.
Use of third party administrative platforms to manage financial transactions
When using a third party administrative platform to collect voluntary contributions and other payments, schools must:
- work with the third party to make clear and agree upon the timing of when the school receives the funds from the third party
- consider how tax receipts are to be provided to parents donating to a tax-deductible Building Fund, Library Fund or to specialist schools
- ensure refunds are made and recorded in CASES21 and not facilitated through the third party.
Further guidance on using a third party platform to collect contributions is in the Parent Contributions Policy Financial Transaction Guide (DOCX) (staff login required)(opens in a new window).
Payment plans and flexible payment arrangements
Voluntary contributions
Schools can offer parents the ability to make voluntary contributions flexibly throughout the year. Schools cannot set payment dates, amounts or schedules for parents and carers to make voluntary contributions throughout the year.
If a parent wishes to make voluntary contributions in instalments, each contribution is viewed as a stand-alone contribution, and schools cannot enforce payment of any further instalments.
Schools using third party software to facilitate payments must ensure that options to make voluntary contributions in instalments meet the criteria outlined in the Parent Contributions Policy Financial Transaction Guide (DOCX) (staff login required)(opens in a new window).
Extra-curricular items and activities
Schools can offer parents and carers the ability to make payments for extra-curricular items and activities flexibly throughout the year by setting payment dates and amounts.
If full payment is not received for extra-curricular items or activities, schools are not required to provide the items or allow the student to participate in the activity.
Schools must comply with the requirements of the Financial Help for Families policy when deciding on extra-curricular items and activities to offer. Schools must also inform parents and carers about the Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund (CSEF), which can help eligible families with the cost of some extra-curricular activities.
Parental disputes
Where there is a payment dispute between persons who share parental responsibility (for example, separated parents), it is recommended that the school avoid determining the dispute or adopting sides. Schools can send duplicate requests to all people with parental responsibility at their respective addresses (without disclosing the address of one parent to the other) and ask parents to decide who is responsible for making contributions and/or payments and in what proportions.
If only a partial payment is made for an extra-curricular item or activity, the school is not required to provide the student with access to the item or activity. Schools must follow their local school refund policy when deciding whether to refund and determining under what circumstances partial payments are refunded.
Refer to the Decision Making Responsibilities for Students policy for more information regarding parental disputes.
Refunds
Schools can choose whether to provide refunds to families and it is strongly recommended schools do so where it is reasonable and fair (for example, if the school has not incurred a cost).
The department's end of year Schools certification checklist requires schools to attest to whether they have a local refund policy. It is not compulsory for schools to have a standalone 'Refund policy'. Schools can address the issue of refunds in their Parent Contributions Arrangements either by using the text suggested in the template or linking to a local refund policy on the school website.
If the school has incurred costs, it is recommended the school acts reasonably and takes into consideration the Financial Help for Families policy and relevant arrangements, including support for families experiencing hardship. For example, it is recommended schools refund families for unavoidable event cancellations if a family experiences a crisis or sudden serious illness and the student can no longer attend the event.
If the school decides to provide a refund, parents or carers need to agree and inform the school where the refund is to be paid. If that agreement cannot be reached, the refund is usually paid into the account from which the money came. Where the payment was made in cash, it is recommended the school waits until the parents or carers reach an agreement and advise the school.
Schools must receive and receipt any funds collected using a third party and must not offset refunds or other payments against incoming funds.
Where a school has determined that a parent is eligible to receive a refund (for example, for a cancelled activity), the refund must be processed through CASES21 as a family payment. Refunds must not be processed through third party platforms.
Where schools have communicated Parent Contributions Arrangements that are not compliant with the Parent Contributions policy and parents pay for items and activities that were incorrectly presented as user-pays, it is recommended that schools offer refunds.
Refer to the Parent Contributions Policy Financial Transaction Guide (DOCX) (staff login required)(opens in a new window) for more detail.
Seeking payment for damage to school property
In most cases, a parent or carer is not legally responsible for damage caused by a student at school. Refer to the Claims for Property Damage and Medical Expenses policy for further information on this.
However, schools can request that parents or carers voluntarily contribute to the cost of damaged items owned by the school if their child was responsible for the damage.
Schools must allow student access to the curriculum whether or not the payment for damages is made. Before requesting payment for damaged goods, schools must consider factors including financial hardship and their Student Engagement policy.
Students and their parents or carers are responsible for returning all items to the school in the same condition they were made available, subject to standard wear and tear.
Standard wear and tear refers to normal deterioration of items from typical everyday use (for example, ripped pages in a textbook, scratches or scuff marks on stationery items). Standard wear and tear can also be agreed upon between the school and parents or carers.
If a student damages school infrastructure or buildings (for example, windows), schools must not request payments for damages. However, schools can invite all parents and carers to contribute towards building repairs (for example, building fund).
Tax deductions
Voluntary contributions are only tax deductible when they are explicitly provided to funds which have been endorsed by the Australian Taxation Office and have a Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR) status (for example, building funds or school library funds where the school holds DGR for these funds).
All specialist schools can apply for DGR status for the whole of the school’s operations. All voluntary contributions received by these schools are tax deductible when invited in accordance with the Parent Contributions policy. Mainstream schools, including those operating a specialist campus or stream, cannot apply for DGR status as an entity - only specific funds can be considered tax deductible.
Refer to the Finance Manual – Financial Management for Schools policy for guidance on how schools can apply for DGR status.
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