Proposal to abolish voluntary parent contribution.

Proposal to abolish voluntary parent contribution.

Groenlinks-pvda submitted a proposal on wednesday 29 january to completely abolish the voluntary parent contribution. They did this in a debate in the house of representatives. The member of parliament lisa westerveld submitted the motion.

Research legal feasibility

Today the house of representatives talked about the voluntary parent contribution in education. Recently the ministry, at the request of the house of representatives, did research into the possibility of ending the voluntary parent contribution. The research showed that stopping the voluntary parent contribution was not only possible, but also a good way to promote equal chances in education. 

Big differences between schools

A law change in 2021 already made it forbidden to exclude students from activities if parents cannot or do not want to pay the voluntary parent contribution. Still, the voluntary parent contribution still causes unequal chances between students. In education, we see that the differences between schools grow. The activities offered at schools with wealthy parents and those with less wealthy parents differ a lot.

Call to abolish

Earlier we called, together with a wide education group of teachers, schools and students, in a letter to fully abolish the parent contribution. Schools would then get money from the government instead of the voluntary parent contribution to keep offering activities. It seems this call now also gets reactions from politics.  

Secretary of state mariëlle paul said she cannot support the motion because she does not want to free the money now. The house of representatives can still decide to order the secretary of state to carry out the motion. Although it does not seem that a majority will support the motion yet, this shows that the issue is noticed in politics. We keep drawing attention to this and keep asking to end the voluntary parent contribution.