FUNDING OF SCHOOLS Policy issues and proposed amendments to the Norms and Standards

1. FUNDING OF SCHOOLS Policy issues and proposed amendments to the Norms and Standards Presentation by the Department of Education October 2004

2. Legal Background • Main legislation: South African Schools Act (1996) • The cornerstone for a post-apartheid institutional landscape for schools. • Subordinate policy: National Norms and Standards for School Funding (1998) • A system of pro-poor funding of schools. • Subordinate regulations: Regulations for the Exemption of Parents from Payment of School Fees (1998) • Protection of the most vulnerable in a context of school fees.

3. Policy Background • Proposals for new approaches: Plan of Action (2003) • Greater equity between provinces and a sustainable removal of school fees in the poorest communities. • New draft Norms and Standards for School Funding • To be released for public comment 2004, for implementation 1st January 2006. • New Exemption Regulations • To be released for comment in 2004, for implementation 1st January 2006.

4. PolicyDevelopments • Further additions to the school funding policies currently in the pipeline: • Norms for Grade R funding in public ordinary schools • Norms for the funding of ABET centres • Provisions for non-personnel funding for special schools and inclusive education. • Other key school issues being dealt with outside the Norms and Standards for School Funding • Capital investment strategy for school infrastructure • Norms for provisioning of non-educator posts • Focus today is on funding of public ordinary schooling in Grades 1 to 12 through “school allocations”, and the related matter of school fees.

5. School Allocations 1 The school allocation is a per learner allocation paid by the PED to schools The amount is pro-poor in recognition of the greater need for public spending on education in poorer communities. The allocation to poorest schools varies from R400 to R600 per learner per year currently. Poor schools get 7 times more per learner. A poor school with 1 000 pupils will get around R500 000 per year as a discretionary budget. This money should be used in local communities,and represents some R3 billion in transfers from the fiscus each year, much of it to poorer rural areas.

6. School Allocations 2 What is the school allocation for? • It is for “educational purposes” such as books and stationery, for lights, phone and water, and for equipment. The allocation is also intended to cover cleaning materials and routine maintenance. It does not cover personnel or capital costs. School feeding is also separately funded. • Apartheid backlogs in terms of school infrastructure, and large scale maintenance are tackled through provincial budgets.

7. Information about School Allocations By September each year, a school should be given the following information • Which national quintile they are in; • The per learner amount for that quintile; and • The school allocation for the school for the following school year, and how this was calculated. • In addition, MECs will release to the public the full resource targeting list for the province, to ensure transparency.

8. Fee Exemptions Automatic exemptions • Learners such as orphans are already automatically exempted from school fees. In future, all learners subject to a social grant are also automatically exempt, whatever school they attend. Other exemptions, on application • Any parent with insufficient income may be exempted on application. Where income is less than 10 times the school fee a full exemption applies, and up to 30 times the school fee qualifies for a partial exemption. In future, parents paying fees for more than one learner are to be given a discount. • New exemption calculations furthermore take into consideration certain non-fee contributions.

9. Follow directly from the Costs of Education Study and the Plan of Action Approved by HEDCOM and CEM for publication To be gazetted for public comment Amendments to three “policy fronts”: Exemptions for the poor Use of the school allocation Targeting adequacy amounts and national poverty quintiles The Revised Draft Norms and Standards for School Funding

10. The revised draft Norms and Standards Policy front #1 Fee exemptions for the poor • Poorest schools with lowest fees to become ‘no fee schools’, by eliminating need for compulsory fees. • ‘Automatic exemptions’ for special categories of children, including recipients of social grants. • Easier access to exemptions for multi-learner households. • Stronger imperatives around Departmental monitoring of fee exemptions.

11. School Fees and Exemptions • The most significant change poposed in the revised Norms is the declaration of ‘no fee schools’ by the Minister. These are schools that: • receive school allocations that exceed the ‘adequacy benchmark’, and • are in quintiles which the Minister has declared should not have school fees. • “No fee grades”, (particular grades where school fees may not be charged) are also contemplated in the draft revised Norms, in recognition of the primary Constitutional obligation to provide a “basic” education.

12. These measures will require legislative amendments to the SA Schools Act, which may only be effected as from January 2006 An interim process for 2005, involving the identification of selected schools to be “no fee” schools, in exchange for an adequacy allocation, is under consideration, and the Minister is seeking the advice of Cabinet on the matter School Fees and Exemptions

13. School fees in richer schools permit a pro-poor transfer of state funding of at least R300m per year, through the collection of school fees from the rich, and the diversion of funds from these schools to poor ones. With a robust and effective exemptions system in place, school fees can bring much-needed resources into the system without compromising the right to an education. School Fees and Exemptions

14. The revised draft Norms and Standards Policy front #2 Use of the school allocation • Guidelines on how the school allocation may be used • National targets to bring about greater transparency in fee setting – school communities to know what they are getting • Better medium-term planning promoted through three-year framework for school allocations

15. Use of the School Allocation • There are no changes regarding the status of schools in the revised draft Norms and Standards. However, more transparency in regard to budgets is required. • PEDs will issue a recommended breakdown of expenditure to all schools. Deviations from this breakdown will be monitored, and unjustifiable deviations followed up. Withdrawal of Section 21 functions is, as in the past, a possibility.

16. The revised draft Norms and Standards Policy front #3 3. Adequacy amounts and measurement of poverty: • Monetary school allocation targets based on an “adequacy amount”, determined annually by the Minister • A national distribution of poverty quintiles to replace the current provincial quintiles, since not all provinces are equally poor • New poverty measures determined by the poverty of the community around the school.

17. Proposed Adequacy amounts 2006-2008 Note: These targets are ‘strong guidelines’ for PEDs, but allocations cannot be guaranteed. Non-attainment of poverty or adequacy targets should prompt special collaboration between national and provincial Treasuries. THE TARGETS TABLE

18. Pro-poor Allocations The new Norms are based on a ‘flatter’ pro-poor curve at the poorer end than previously. This allows for better funding in all poor schools (Quintiles 1 –3) as overall funding levels improve.

19. Resource Poverty Targeting School-based or individual poverty targeting • Government’s aim is to provide quality public schooling that is closest to where communities live. Pro-poor school-based funding is thus directed towards building poorer communities. Changes to the resource targeting lists • There will be nationally aligned criteria for determining poverty levels of individual schools. Transition from the previous place in list to new place will be gradual. Further updating will occur from time to time. Dealing with “poor learners in rich schools” • A special framework will be provided for assessing (suburban) schools with many poor learners.

20. National Poverty Distribution Table Inter-provincial equity to be pursued by taking into consideration the distribution of the poorest households across the country, as shown in the Table below. Data is from StatsSA.