"Parent funds are not enough, just enough"
Recognizing this as a sensitive issue, Ms. NTTC, a literature teacher with many years of experience as a homeroom teacher in Hanoi, said: The story of the parent fund will never cease to be controversial as long as it exists.
According to Ms. C., the parent fund is precisely the operating budget of the parent-teacher association. This funding comes from the voluntary support of parents and other legal sources of funding.
This is stipulated in Circular 55 of the Ministry of Education and Training on the Charter of the Parents' Representative Board.
Parents take their children to take the high school graduation exam (Photo: Thanh Dong).
Therefore, in essence, the parent committee or any parent in a class cannot demand contributions from other parents, nor can it set a mandatory contribution level.
"But reality happens as we see it. A group of a few dozen people wants to operate well based on the voluntary work of each individual, so each individual in that group must be knowledgeable and united, working together for a common goal.
Who is willing to voluntarily contribute more money than others just so that their children can enjoy the same benefits as other students?", Ms. C. asked.
Faced with this reality, Ms. C. believes that voluntary contributions within one's ability to provide funds for the parent committee's operations are not feasible.
For the most convenience, the operating budget will be divided by the number of people to get an average number - the amount that each parent must contribute. This is the most common way of doing it today.
"The advantage of the current approach is that all parents contribute equally, their children have the same rights, avoiding the situation where some are better than others, leading to special favors and privileges.
The downside is that there is never a number that fits all. The same amount of money, what is little for one person, is a lot for another.
Therefore, there is no such thing as a sufficient number, only satisfaction or dissatisfaction. That is why year after year, at the beginning of each school year, the issue of parent funds is brought up," Ms. C. analyzed.
Should change the form from compulsory contribution to fundraising?
Ms. C. proposed a solution to build the operating budget of the parent-teacher association without requiring a mandatory contribution level, which is to raise funds through sales and auctions.
"In many countries around the world, parents' associations often choose this method to have abundant financial resources.
They can organize a small flea market at school or in their neighborhood, or even an online market.
Used but still valuable items are donated by parents to the fair. The parents of the class pay for the items. Some are well-off and generous enough to pay more than the items are worth.
All proceeds from sales will go to the parent fund to pay for class activities during the school year.
Parents can organize events like this 2-3 times a year," Ms. C. shared.
Ms. Mai Nhat Anh (Thanh Xuan, Hanoi) said that her child's class also organized a similar activity to raise class funds. The event was held together with the school's spring fair.
"Instead of using class funds to buy items to participate in the spring fair, we encourage parents to donate in kind to sell.
Many old books and shoes were donated. Then there was food, lucky money envelopes, traditional Vietnamese dresses for Tet... At the end of the 2-hour fair, we collected more than 10 million VND worth of goods, equivalent to half of the spending budget for the second period," Ms. Nhat Anh shared.
However, according to Ms. Nhat Anh, for fundraising events to be successful, all parents must participate unanimously, each contributing to the organization. If left to the parents' committee alone, the program will fail.
"An acquaintance of mine is also the head of the parents' association. When she proposed organizing a fundraising activity, many parents of her children's class waved their hands and said, "No, just donate quickly."
There are quite a few parents who consider paying the fund their sole responsibility to the class's parents. They only need to pay to complete their task, the parents' committee will take care of the rest," said Ms. Nhat Anh.
From her own perspective, Ms. NTTC believes that only when parents actually participate in their children's activities will they understand what the board of directors has to do.
"Only when parents are truly involved in their children's educational and extracurricular activities can the parent committee be "disbanded," said Ms. C.
Article 10 of Circular 55 stipulates the operating expenses of the Parents' Representative Board as follows:
"The operating expenses of the Class Parents' Representative Committee come from the voluntary support of parents and other legal sources of funding for the Class Parents' Representative Committee;
The operating budget of the school's Parents' Representative Board is taken from the operating budget of the class Parents' Representative Boards according to the recommendations of the plenary meeting of the heads of the class Parents' Representative Boards at the beginning of the school year and other legal funding sources for the school's Parents' Representative Board.
Regarding the management and use of funds of the Parents' Representative Committee, Circular 55 stipulates that the Head of the Parents' Representative Committee of the class shall coordinate with the homeroom teacher to plan the spending plan and only use it when all members of the Parents' Representative Committee of the class agree.
The collection and expenditure of funds by the Parents' Representative Board must ensure the principles of transparency and democracy. After spending, the final financial report must be made public and there is no regulation on the average level of support for parents.
Source: https://dantri.com.vn/giao-duc/quy-phu-huynh-nam-nao-cung-tranh-cai-bao-nhieu-la-vua-long-20240925152359649.htm
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