Information reaching Amandala today from the Office of the President of St. John’s College, Frank Garbutt, indicates that “Effective [Tuesday] June 30, 2009, parents who have paid school fees in full at St. John’s College may receive refunds on the increased portion of their fees from the finance officer during regular working hours.”
After controversy broke in the media over the fee increase last week, Garbutt said Tuesday that the increase could be treated as a voluntary contribution to the school. However, up to Thursday, there were still complaints to the Ministry of Education that parents were being charged the new fees.
Responding to allegations made in the media against the school last week, the college today hand-delivered a 5-page release from Garbutt’s office to our newspaper—a statement claiming that the school has been grappling with rising costs and operating with a deficit for many years.
Minister of Education, Patrick Faber, told Amandala last Thursday, however, that the school could not increase fees without his approval, and he never approved the fee increase.
“Many schools that increased fees did so without it [being] either formally approved or disapproved by the Minister of Education,” the SJC statement claimed.
SJC challenges the Minister, saying that, “We view the Ministry’s directive that fees are not to be increased to be in breach of the Education Act and Rules and are reviewing our legal options on this matter.”
The statement said that tuition grants from Government have been frozen, but costs keep growing.
“For the past 16 years, the annual tuition of $600 per student has not increased even though salaries have increased, both by overall adjustments and annual increment. Increases have also occurred in Social Security contributions. Utilities and just about every other key input have also increased,” the release said.
The school expects to have an enrollment of 650 for the new school year. Government pays 100% of tuition for the students, but parents pay the fees; Government meets 70% of salaries for teachers, while the institution meets the remaining 30%.
The school added, however, that apart from that, it pays Social Security contributions and meets all operation and capital expenses for the school.
Faber told us last week that since SJC is a grant-aided school, the Government has the power to send in an auditor to check the books.