Introduction
| 171) | For the purpose of granting State subsidies, a registered independent educational institution must comply with section 9(4) of the Constitution read in conjunction with the provisions of the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act, No 4 of 2000. This may include Institutions providing for - (i) learners of a single sex, (ii) learners with special education needs, (iii) a religious ethos that does not discriminate against learners of other religions, and (iv) schools with a special education focus (schools that specialize in a specific field of learning including art, music and commerce). |
| 172) | The SASA provides for the right of persons to establish and maintain an independent school, and for the registration of an independent school by the Head of Department, under conditions consistent with the Constitution. The Act enables the provincial MEC to grant a subsidy to a registered independent school, in terms of norms and minimum standards determined by the Minister of Education (Sections 45-46,48). |
| 173) | The norms that follow are the first uniform national norms for independent school subsidies. They are intended to provide a stable and principled basis for MECs in all provinces, to decide the eligibility for subsidy and the level of subsidies for registered independent schools. |
| 174) | The national norms apply uniformly in all provinces. However, a provincial MEC may vary them, so long as their intent and spirit is maintained. The Head of Department must consult the national DOE on this matter. |
| 175) | The following norms embody conditions of eligibility for subsidy, and funding criteria for allocating subsidies. |
Conditions of eligibility
| 176) | An independent school may be considered for subsidy if it |
| a) | is registered by the PED; |
| b) | has made an application to the PED in the prescribed manner; |
| c) | has been operational for one full school year; |
| d) | is a registered non-profit organisation in terms of the nonprofit organisations Act, Act No. 71 of 1997; |
| e) | is managed successfully according to a management checklist determined by the PED, as described in paragraph 179; |
| f) | agrees to unannounced inspection visits by officials of the PED or person duly authorized by the PED; and |
| g) | has not been established in direct competition with a nearby uncrowded public school of equivalent quality. |
| 1) | In addition to the conditions in the previous paragraph, the following conditions apply to the primary school phase and to the secondary school phase. |
| a) | A primary school phase may be considered for subsidy using the latest provincial learner assessment results of public ordinary schools, if- |
| b) | the average of its learner achievement rate in literacy and numeracy in the grade 3 or grade 6 assessment is equal to or more than the provincial latest achievement rate of grade 3 or grade 6 in public schools; |
| c) | learners are retained not more than once in a phase, ie. a learner is not retained more than once in grades 1 to 3 phase or grades 4 to 6 phase; |
| d) | not more than 20% of grade 2 or grade 5 learners are retained who took grade 2 or grade 5 at the same school the previous year; and |
| e) | the school does not engage in practices that are intended to artificially increase the results of the assessments. |
| 2) | The provincial learner assessment determined by the Minister must- |
| a) | include the assessment of performance that is generally applicable to all learners for a specific grade; and |
| b) | comply with the national curriculum statement indicating the minimum outcomes or standards determined by the Minister in terms of section 6A of the South African Schools Act. |
| 3) | The Minister may determine the learner assessment for learner achievement after consultation with the recognised independent schools' associations. |
The Policy for the Grade 3 and 6 assessment in subsidized independent schools referred to in paragraph 177 (1) will be determined after consultation with the recognized independent school Association Bodies.
| 4) | A secondary school phase may be considered for subsidy if- |
| a) | its final grade 12 pass rate is equal to or higher than the provincial average grade 12 pass rate for public schools in the prior year; |
| b) | not more than 20% of Grade 11 learners are repeaters who took Grade 11 in the same school during the previous year; |
| c) | not more than 20% of Grade 12 learners are repeaters who took Grade 12 in the same school during the previous year; |
| d) | it does not engage in practices that are calculated to artificially increase the school's Grade 12 pass rate; and |
| e) | learners are retained not more than once in the phase comprising of grades 7 to 9 phase. |
| 178) | The Head of Department may vary conditions (a), (b) or (c) in the previous paragraph in response to good cause shown by a school to the Head of Department. |
| 179) | Each school requesting funding will be subject to a management checklist (which may be the same as, or based on, the checklist referred to in paragraph 129 above), which will be approved by the HOD after consultation with representatives of independent schools. In the event that the independent school sector could not agree regarding this checklist, the HOD will determine the checklist. This checklist will determine, amongst other things, whether the school is able to manage its finances responsibly. It must include indicators of sound management, such as whether the school keeps proper admissions and attendance registers, and maintains fee payment and other financial records. To be eligible for funding a school must subscribe to the checklist, and must allow unannounced inspections by officials of the PED, to ensure that the practices in the checklist are up-to-date. Refusal to allow an unannounced visit will result in forfeiture of further funding. |
Funding criteria
Subsidies related to fees
| 180) | For the purpose of this national policy, "fees" means any form of payment for registration and tuition made by a parent in relation to a learner's enrolment or attendance at an independent school. It includes the present annualised value of any past or future once-off payment, using a market rate of interest for investments of equal certainty. It also includes any other form of payment by a parent, or equity in the school taken by a parent, as a form of fee payment equivalent. The highest level of fees normally charged at the school, as opposed to fees discounted for once-off payment, will be taken as representative. Additional costs associated with the normal course of instruction which learners are expected to follow are to be considered fees, even if they are not formally called fees. However, payments for extra items or services, or for school materials that are procured by the school instead of having to be purchased by the parent, are not to be considered fees, as long as the cost of such items is similar to their open-market value. |
| 181) | For purposes of these norms, "primary" phase comprises grades 1 to 7, and "secondary" phase comprises grades 8 to 12. |
| 182) | In what follows, the level of annual fees as defined in paragraph 180 charged at primary phases and secondary phases of independent schools as of the date stated in paragraph 183 below will be taken as indicators of the socio-economic status of a school's community. |
| 183) | The initial date is January 1998. This DoE will amend this date from time to time by way of Government Notice in the month of January of any year. This date must be retroactive to the date of publication. The date of January 2004 as determined by Government Notice No. 45 dated 21 January 2005 (Government Gazette No. 27184) is still applicable and effective as the date for categorizing eligible independent schools for subsidy. |
* see latest Government Notice
| 184) | The subsidy category of schools based on the date in paragraph 183 will remain until a new date is published. |
| 185) | When a new date in paragraph 183 is published the PED will inform the independent schools eligible for subsidy of their relevant subsidy category for the year subsequent to the date of publication referred to in paragraph 183 during April or earlier of the year in which the notice referred to in paragraph 183 is published. To determine the subsidy category per school the separate provincial average estimate per learner in the primary and secondary phases of ordinary public schools, and the learner numbers according to the 10th Day/Snap Survey in the different school phases of the year mentioned in paragraph 183 must be used. |
| 186) | Schools established after the date in paragraph 183 and which qualify for subsidy will have their subsidy category determined through paragraph 188. |
| 187) | The Ministry's policy is to enable subsidies to be granted in relation to the socio-economic circumstances of an eligible school's clientele. The level of school fees charged by the primary or secondary phases of an independent school is taken as an objective, publicly-available criterion that correlates well with the socio-economic circumstances of the school's clientele for each of those two phases. Subsidy levels are therefore related to fee levels on a five-point progressive scale, as shown in Figure 4 below. Eligible schools charging the lowest fees will qualify for the highest level of subsidy. Schools charging fees, in excess of 2.5 times the separate provincial average estimates per learner in primary or secondary phases of ordinary public schools respectively, are considered to serve a highly affluent clientele, and 0% subsidy will be paid to them from public funds. |
Figure 4. Allocation table for independent school subsidies
School fee level as on the date in Paragraph 183
|
Level of subsidy from the PED in school year n, where n is initially the school year 2003, is equal to:
|
| 1) | Up to 0.5 times (50%) of the separate provincial average estimate per learner in the primary and secondary phases of ordinary public schools¹ respectively in the fiscal year, following the date in paragraph 183. |
|
60% of the separate provincial average estimate per learner in primary and secondary phases of ordinary public schools 2) respectively in the PED's fiscal year n/n+l.
|
| 2) | Higher than 0.5 and up to 1.0 times the separate provincial average estimate per learner in the primary and secondary phases of ordinary public schools respectively in the fiscal year, following the date in paragraph 183. |
|
40% of the separate provincial average estimate per learner in primary and secondary phases of ordinary public schools 2) respectively in the PED's fiscal year n/n+l.
|
| 3) | Higher than 1.0 and up to 1.5 times the separate provincial average estimate per learner in the primary and secondary phases of ordinary public schools respectively in the fiscal year, following the date in paragraph 183. |
|
25% of the separate provincial average estimate per learner in primary and secondary phases of ordinary public schools 2) respectively in the PED's fiscal year n/n+l.
|
| 4) | Higher than 1.5 and up to 2.5 times the separate provincial average estimate per learner in the primary and secondary phases of ordinary public schools respectively in the fiscal year, following the date in paragraph 183. |
|
15% of the separate provincial average estimate per learner in primary and secondary phases of ordinary public schools 2) respectively in the PED's fiscal year n/n+l.
|
| 5) | Higher than 2.5 times the separate provincial average estimate per learner in the primary and secondary phases of ordinary public schools² respectively in the Fiscal year, following the date in paragraph 183. |
|
0% subsidy.
|
* Suffix (1) refers to the "Adjustments Estimates of Expenditure" (including planned increases in remuneration) as they apply to the sub programmes of primary and secondary phases of ordinary public schools separately as included in the programme structure of the same "Adjustments Estimates of Expenditure". The budget amounts included in the other sub-programmes under the programme: Public Ordinary Schools, must be added to the sub-programmes of primary and secondary ordinary public schools in the ratio of the sub-programmes of primary and secondary ordinary public schools.
* Suffix (2) refers to the provincial 'Main Estimates of Expenditure Figures" (including planned adjustments to personnel costs) as they apply to the sub programmes of primary and secondary phases of ordinary public schools separately and the learner numbers according to the 10th Day /Snap Survey of year n. The budget amounts included in the other sub-programmes under the programme: Public Ordinary Schools, must be added to the sub-programmes of primary and secondary ordinary public schools in the ratio of the sub-programmes of primary and secondary ordinary public schools.
| 188) | PEDs will need to establish a procedure to deal with borderline situations. For example, if the average public school cost in a province is R2000, and an independent school charges fees of R1050, it will just miss being in the first (highest subsidy) category, even if its clientele is not different from that of a school charging, say, R950. PEDS may use the following criteria, in addition to any other relevant information submitted by the school, to judge whether a school falls into a certain category: |
| a) | schools in the first (highest subsidy level) category would typically be located in townships, deep rural areas, or informal settlements and serving the residents in these areas. |
| b) | schools in the second category would typically be in inner city or transitional suburban areas, catering largely for township and informal sector clientele or the urban lower middle class. |
| c) | schools in the third and fourth categories would be middle and upper middle class schools with good facilities with a local clientele. |
| d) | schools in the fifth category would be well established schools with excellent facilities and a national or regional clientele and very low learner: educator ratios. |
| 189) | Subsidies may be paid only in respect of grades 1-12. No other grades are eligible for subsidy for the time being. If the fee structure varies by grade, the enrolment-weighted average of the fees in all relevant grades will be taken as representative of each level. |
| 190) | The fee levels applying to the primary and secondary sections of a combined school may differ. The principal of such a combined school can approach the HOD with a request to lower its fees in either the primary or secondary sections so that it is the same for both the primary and secondary sections of the school in order to qualify for the same percentage subsidy in both the primary and secondary sections. The HOD may recommend a subsidy, if it is deemed in the interest of the school and the Provincial Education Department. |
Subsidies in relation to PED budgets
| 191) | The Ministry of Education is sensitive to the connection between the total cost of independent school subsidies and the overall budgetary position of a Provincial Education Department. Recent reductions in the overall funds available for independent school subsidies because of urgent budgetary expediency, should not become de facto policy by default. At the same time, PEDs must have latitude to vary budgetary allocations between programme areas, in relation to the total funds at their disposal, and the priorities established in terms of national and provincial policies. |
| 192) | A PED may, therefore, alter the fee levels and/or corresponding percentage subsidies levels except for the 0% subsidy level applicable to school fee level 5 in Figure 4 after consultation with the DOE, if the application of these norms would- |
| a) | cause a PED's expenditure on subsidies to independent schools to deviate from a three-year historical moving average by more than 10 percent in real terms in any given year; or |
| b) | contribute to over-expenditure on the PED's budget in the year they are applied; or |
| c) | result in the total independent school programme receiving year-to-year budget cuts (or increases) in any given year that are significantly larger (or smaller) than other programme areas in the PED's budget. |
Other deviations
| 193) | Aside from deviations already discussed in this document, a PED may deviate from the subsidy and fee levels in these norms only on good cause shown to the DOE (see paragraph 174 above). |
Date of subsidy payments
| 194) | Subsidies will be calculated on a per learner basis according to the verified enrolment in the school at the beginning of each term. |
| 195) | PEDs must ensure that the first term's subsidy is paid no later than 1 April in each school year. Subsequent subsidies must be paid no later than six weeks after the beginning of each school term. |
Monitoring and revision
| 196) | The Ministry of Education, in co-operation with PEDs and representatives of independent schools, will monitor the application of these norms in order to: |
| b) | monitor subsidy levels; |
| c) | ensure that the overall level of subsidy to independent schools is a reasonable percentage of the total education budget in a province, in relation to the relative size of the independent and public school sectors in the province, and other relevant considerations; and |
| d) | ensure that national education policy objectives are being well served by the norms and their application. |
| 197) | In the light of an analysis of these matters, the Ministry, after due consultation, may amend or revise the norms. |
