The SNP Government has been urged to create a special fund to help private schools become state-run comprehensives within ten years. Labour peer Lord Foulkes said the Government should freeze private school fees on condition they agree to local authority control.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves will use her Budget this month to provide more details on the Government policy of introducing VAT on private school fees. Up to £150m is expected to be sent to Holyrood as a result of the move and a debate is underway on how the money should be spent.
The SNP Government will deliver its own draft Budget on December 4th and Lord Foulkes says promoting state education is vital.
Although he is fully supportive of the VAT policy, he says a combination of the tax and fee increases by schools will be hard for some families.
He believes the Scottish Government should offer a lifeline to the families, but only if the schools agree to end their exclusivity.
The peer said: “Imposing VAT on the fees for children attending private schools, as Labour is implementing, is right in terms of fairness and equality.
“However, on top of the increases in fees over the past few years which the Boards of Governors of schools have made themselves, fees are set to rise substantially and I recognise the problems created, particularly for parents who are struggling financially.
“Equally the state sector has been deprived of many of the best academically performing pupils, particularly in Edinburgh, and their facilities are much poorer than in the private sector.”
He added: “So the Scottish Government should establish a ‘Mutual Assistance Fund’ which would enable private schools to freeze the fees for existing pupils and extend scholarships for those struggling to pay.
“In return the private schools would make their facilities, including sports grounds, pools and specialist teachers available to state schools on an agreed basis and would agree a plan to incorporate over 10 years their integration into the state system with agreed local catchment areas.
“This would mean a substantial improvement in the state sector, particularly in Edinburgh, and would ensure stability for pupils currently in private schools.
“This would give an immediate boost to the quality of education and greater equality of opportunity for all children.
“A government which supports the continuation of such a divisive system of schooling as we have at present in Scotland cannot be considered as a radical or social democratic Government.
The Foulkes plan has echoes of his attempt as a Labour councillor in the 1970s to bring Edinburgh private schools under municipal control. He tried to turn George Heriot’s and Mary Erskine schools into comprehensives, but Margaret Thatcher’s win in 1979 scuppered the move.
The Labour Government has defended its VAT policy in the teeth of fierce criticism from the Tories, Lib Dems and the private school sector.
Recent reports suggested that some schools would cut back on bursaries for poorer children in response to the new tax. But Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has rejected the claim. “I don’t accept that,” she said. “Some of them have got very large incomes and actually a relatively small percentage of that income going towards bursaries.”
“Changes around VAT should not and must not impact on the work that they are doing around bursaries. There is an expectation of course that that would continue.”
From January, the Government plans to remove the VAT exemption and business rates relief for private schools.
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