Treasury Minister Susie Pinel has signed a ministerial decision authorising the new fees for JCG and Jersey College Preparatory as recommended by the schools’ governing body.
The rises, which include a 7.5% increase from January, are said to cover ‘anticipated costs’. And, when coupled with a further 5% rise in September 2020, they are expected to bring in hundreds of thousands of pounds for the two schools.
Following the decision, the fees will be £1,822 for the autumn term and £1,960 from January at JCG, and £1,761 and £1,893 respectively at JCP.
For the academic year starting September 2020, fees will be £2,058 per term at JCG and £1,988 at JCP.
When compared to the autumn-term rate for 2019, in the school year beginning September 2020 parents would pay an extra £708 per child per year at JCG and £681 for JCP.
It is unclear whether other fee-paying schools may face similar rises.
The report accompanying the decision states: ‘The fee increase for JCG is forecast to result in additional income of £292,000 for financial year 2020 (based on a fee increase of 7.5% from Jan 2020 and a further indicative rise of 5% from September 2020). The fee increase for JCP is forecast to result in additional income of circa £143,000 for 2020 (based on a fee increase of 7.5% from Jan 2020 and a further indicative rise of 5% from September 2020).
This week Jersey National Education Union President Brendan Carolan said that he believed the Island’s education system was being propped up by parents sending their children to fee-paying schools, something he labelled as a ‘hidden tax’.
He said around 30% of secondary-school children went to fee-paying schools and those fees were propping up the system because the government was not putting in enough money.
Mr Carolan warned that although school budgets had increased slightly over the three-year period from 2016 to 2018, inflation costs and more pressures on budgets meant there needed to be a 10% funding rise just to stand still.
Under Article 13a of the Education (Jersey) Law 1999 and the States anti-inflation strategy, increases in fees and charges should be limited to 2.5% per year, with ‘compelling cases’ subject to the approval of the Treasury Minister, hence the ministerial decision. Education Minister Tracey Vallois has also approved the increases.
Earlier this year, parents with children at Beaulieu were warned in a letter from the school’s headmaster, Chris Beirne, to expect fee increases which could be as much as 7.7% over the next three years to cover pay rises and to compensate for a reduction in States grants.
