The ombudsperson warns that some schools are charging fees that do not belong to the families.

"School supplies," "maintenance of the educational project," or "general services." These are concepts familiar to many families because they appear on the fee receipts they pay at their children's school. However, the ambiguity of these terms can lead families to assume expenses of an educational institution that, by law, they should not have to bear, or at least should not be obligated to do so. This is the warning issued in a September resolution by the Ombudsman for Grievances, which ARA has been able to consult. The document is a response to a specific case concerning a change in fees at several semi-private schools, but the institution also notes that, in its work, it has detected that "some public and semi-private schools include expenses [...] that should not be the responsibility of families or should not be considered mandatory contributions."

Behind this situation lie two key factors: firstly, many families are unaware of what the school can and cannot charge them for, and secondly, some schools provide information about fees but don't itemize the charges. In fact, this lack of breakdown of expenses is where the problem lies.

According to the Education Law (LEC), education from preschool through high school should be free, but it is understood that families are responsible for the cost of textbooks and consumable materials—pencils, notebooks, pens, etc.—that the student will use individually. "Once we know that it's true that parents are responsible for consumable school supplies, there are two ways to do it, and the family has every right to choose. Either the school provides a list and you go to the stationery store and buy the supplies your child will use during the school year, or there's a fee, and the school buys the supplies for your child," says the federation that brings together most of the parents' associations of public schools in Catalonia. However, the problem is that, as AFFAC has been denouncing for years, there are schools—the majority, according to the federation—that don't itemize what's included in this fee and that "end up including expenses that aren't for supplies." In this regard, the resolution also notes that the ombudsperson "has detected public and private schools that process fees without differentiating the various items they include" and warns that "without this breakdown, it becomes impossible to exercise the voluntary nature of using school services and paying for them."

"Families don't know that fees are not mandatory"

"These fees have become normalized. School administrations have become accustomed to including the fees they collect from families as part of their operating budget, and that's not right. The problem is that families don't know these material fees aren't mandatory," insists Gasull. In fact, the director of AFFAC explains that they have encountered cases of schools that, among the expenses for school materials, had added facade renovations, improvements to playgrounds and restrooms, furniture purchases, and even digital whiteboards. Given this situation, in the resolution, the ombudsperson calls on the Generalitat (Catalan government): "The Ombudsman asks the Department of Education and Vocational Training for a greater commitment to prevent the collection of fees from becoming a source of educational inequality, and especially to ensure compliance with the regulations." In this regard, the director of AFFAC also criticizes the fact that when they have helped families who have refused to pay certain school fees, they have almost always found that the Education Inspectorate tries "to prevent the conflict from escalating" and resolves the family's individual problem, but "does not intervene thoroughly to change the school's fee collection practices."

Change of fees at Marist

The case that prompted the ombudsperson's ruling involves the Marist schools in Rubí, Badalona, ​​Mataró, and Girona, where families are complaining about a change in fees from one school year to the next. According to some parents who spoke to ARA, a fee that was previously voluntary and went to the foundation has now become mandatory under the heading of "general services" or "maintenance of the educational project." "We found out after the children were already enrolled and we no longer had the option of transferring them to a public school," complains Mayte, one of the mothers who has criticized the change. She insists: "It's not that we don't want to pay; I am paying, but I want to pay a fair price, and if a fee is supposed to be voluntary, then it should be." For its part, the Marist administrator, Joan Galvany, justifies the change by stating that it was approved by the school councils of the ten schools under its ownership. "This isn't a fee we invented or that was duplicated; from the beginning of the agreement, we were covering part of our needs through donations, and now that donation fee has become a service fee," Galvany explained to ARA.

The administrator also pointed out that the change responds to two objectives. On the one hand, he asserted that other charter school institutions have found that the Tax Agencyhas "changed his perspective" and has come to understandthat these voluntary fees were payment for a service. "We have a responsibility here; we cannot put families at risk," Galvany asserts. Furthermore, he also maintains that, despite being a donation, families had always been told that this voluntary fee "was essential for the financial sustainability of the school," and insists that it is no longer mandatory, but rather billed to everyone "because everyone benefits from the service."

Sources from the Department of Education remind us that any fee other than the extra sixth hour of instruction in state-subsidized schools "must be reported to the department." They also emphasize that "this fee, like any other contribution (to foundations, for example), is voluntary."

The underfunding of state-subsidized schools

Galvany also says that the main reason for charging a service fee is the underfunding of subsidized schools by the Department of Education: "35% of the service we offer is not covered by the educational agreement," she laments. This is a situation that the ombudsperson herself also denounces, despite asking the Department of Education to work with Maristes to ensure, among other things, "the voluntary nature of the fees is guaranteed, and that they should not be mandatory—like service fees." However, the ombudsperson refers at several points in her argument to the underfunding experienced by schools and institutes and points out that the study on the cost of a school place "It showed that public and especially subsidized schools receive less funding than they should receive to guarantee fully free education."