CathConnect - Legislation

Empowering Legislation

The Education and Training Act (2020) and amendments, give the Proprietors of Catholic Integrated Schools the ability to request Donations, collect Dues and maintain systems to legally enforce their collection.

Education and Training Act 2020 - Schedule 6 - State Integrated Schools

30 Attendance dues

(1) The proprietor of a State integrated school may, if the integration agreement for the school provides, enter into an agreement with the parents or other persons accepting responsibility for the education of a child that provides that the parents or other persons must pay attendance dues as a condition of the child’s enrolment at the school.

(2) The dues must be established for the State integrated school or group of State integrated schools at the rates, and subject to any conditions, approved by the Minister by notice.

(3) Revenue received by the proprietor from attendance dues must be used solely for the following:

(a) paying, in respect of the school or group of schools in respect of which it is received, for improvements to the State integrated school or schools’ buildings and associated facilities that are required by any integration agreement or integration agreements under clause 39(2)(c):

(b) any capital works that may be required by the Minister under clause 39(2)(d):

(c) meeting debts, mortgages, liens, or other charges associated with the land and the buildings that constitute the premises of the State integrated school or schools.

(4) No revenue received by the proprietor from attendance dues may be used to provide or improve the State integrated school buildings and associated facilities to a standard higher than that approved by the Secretary as appropriate for a comparable State school.

(5) A notice approved by the Minister under subclause (2) is secondary legislation (see Part 3 of the Legislation Act 2019 for publication requirements), unless it applies only to 1 or more named State integrated schools.

(6)If a notice is not secondary legislation, the Minister must publish it in the Gazette.

32 Failure to pay attendance dues

(1) If a parent, or other person who has accepted the responsibility for the education of a child, has entered into an agreement to pay attendance dues and fails to make a payment, the payment is recoverable from the parent or other person in any court of competent jurisdiction as a debt due to the proprietor.

(2) In addition, a failure to make payment constitutes grounds for the principal of the State integrated school to suspend the child from attendance at that school and to remove the child’s name from the school register.

(3) However, no child may be suspended and have their name removed from the school register until arrangements have been made to the satisfaction of the Secretary for the child to be enrolled at some other school.

34 Financial contributions

(1) In addition to the power to collect attendance dues under clause 30, the proprietor of a State integrated school may—

(a) conduct fund-raising activities within the school; and

(b) inform the parents of the financial obligations of the proprietor in the prospectus and in other ways; and

(c) request the parents of students attending the school to make regular financial contributions to the proprietor for the benefit of the proprietor in meeting any debt, mortgage, lien, or other charge associated with the land and buildings that constitute the school premises or are associated with the school.

(2) Financial contributions other than attendance dues must be made on a voluntary basis, and no student may be refused enrolment because of the unwillingness of the parents to contribute in this way.

Education and Training Act 2020 - Schedule 24 - National Student Numbers

5 Person may use or disclose own national student number

Despite anything in this schedule, a person may use or disclose their own national student number for any purpose.