The Ministry of Education and the administration of St. John’s College, a very prominent Jesuit high school in Belize City, locked horns this week over a unilateral move by the school to increase fees for 2009-2010 by $300—an increase not approved by the Minister of Education, Patrick Faber, as the minister contends is required by law for the increase to be valid.
“I have no idea why the huge increase,” said Minister Faber, indicating that since SJC is a grant-aided school, “Government can send an auditor in there anytime.”
Faber told Amandala that his ministry sent out a letter to the school on Tuesday, calling on the school to retract and issue a new fee schedule by Friday.
Faber said that if it were up to him alone, he would suspend government aid to the school, but he is taking advice from top ministry personnel on how to proceed.
Up to today, said Faber, people were still complaining that the school continues to charge the new fees, saying that they don’t care what the ministry has said.
Faber, who expressed his view that the school is being purposely defiant, said that while some students got a fee list of $1,100, he has received reports that SJC’s 4th form students are billed in excess of $1,600.
“The big point is that it is unfair for them to be pressuring parents,” the Minister added.
The school gets a lot from Government by way of tuition and salary grants to meet 70% of teachers’ salaries, which is all taxpayer dollars and so, that money comes from parents and the community already, Faber explained.
After controversy broke over the fee increase, SJC indicated on Tuesday that the fee would be treated as a “voluntary contribution.”
Amandala tried multiple times to reach SJC president, Frank Garbutt, for comment, but at the time of this report, he had not returned our calls.
Responding to an inquiry for a refund of the $300 fee increase today, a representative of the school said that parents could apply to the accountant for a refund, but the money could likewise serve as a credit for the summer program.
Speaking with the media this week, Faber, a former student of the institution, was adamant that under the Education Act, no grant-aided school can increase fees without first getting his approval, and his ministry had already taken a decision not to support any fee increase for the new school year, because of the hardships families are already experiencing due to the bad economic climate.
Faber said that the Chief Education Officer, David Leacock, had circulated a memo earlier this month warning that no fee increase would be allowed, because of the current economic situation, and he is sure that SJC got the memo.
The Ministry claims that it has decided to freeze the fees to give time to Ministry staff to undertake a thorough review of the fee structure of grant-aided schools.
However, the school has this month been registering its nearly 600 students for the new school year, and some parents had already paid the new rate of $1,100 before pressure came down from the Ministry of Education, insisting that SJC should retract.
A copy of the fee schedule we obtained details how the fees are broken down. It includes a $225 activity fee, a $150 computer lab fee, and a $400 supplementary fee—all said to be non-refundable. Of note is that the supplemental fee alone increased by $100, and the activity fee tripled.
Minister Faber said Tuesday that it appeared that the institution had been mocking the ministry, by imposing the increase in fees.
SJC’s website quotes the 2006-2007 fees as ranging from $492 to $512, half what the school billed students in early June for the 2009-2010 academic year.
Of note is that the Ministry of Education also pays student tuition of $60 for each of the almost 600 students at SJC—over $300,000 for the year.
Minister Faber has indicated that SJC gets more than double the tuition subsidy of some other high schools.
Apart from paying tuition for high school students and some sixth form students, the ministry also pays 70% of salaries for the teachers.
According to Minister Faber, when he was in third form at SJC in 1993, they were only required to pay $60 a month for tuition, no fees. That’s when the then administration of the United Democratic Party implemented the free tuition program.
The school, said Faber, has managed to add on $800 in fees—much more than the annual tuition—between then and the last school year.