Question & answer: How does the voluntary parent contribution work?.

Question & answer: How does the voluntary parent contribution work?.

An important part of school costs that parents face is the voluntary parent contribution. As the word voluntary says: parents are not required to pay these costs. Moreover, children of parents who do not pay may not be excluded from extra activities such as school trips or sports days.

Schools usually pay extra activities and materials from the voluntary parent contribution for which the government money is not enough or for which the school has not budgeted money. These include school trips, foreign trips, rental of lockers, museum visits, Sinterklaas and Christmas parties, or bilingual education. Do you have to pay the parent contribution? This must not be a reason to exclude your child. However, the school can decide that an extra activity will not continue if the total amount of the voluntary parent contribution is not enough. The school can also decide to cover the remaining amount itself so the activity can proceed.

See also our theme page on school costs for more information.

The national government also has a detailed page about the voluntary parent contribution with the main information summarized.