Private Schools Must Prove Charitable Status

THE Times reports:

Private schools will be judged annually on whether they are doing enough for the poor in order to qualify for tax breaks worth £100 million a year, the charities regulator has told The Times.

Dame Suzi Leather, the chairwoman of the Charity Commission, suggested that the threshold to qualify schools for charitable status would be raised every year to ensure that they provide the maximum possible public benefit.

Then:

Dame Suzi’s comments come amid growing concern about the attainment divide between schools in the private and state sectors.

In the past decade private schools have seen a 16.3 per cent increase in the proportion of A grades at A level, compared with only 5 per cent at comprehensives.

Many education experts fear this academic divide will get wider, bringing with it increased social divisions.

As Tim notes:

So, the State funded schools are crap compared to hte privately so. What do we do about it? Make the State funded schools better? No, of course not! We punish the privately so!

Excellent, trebles all round!

Just one thing. Will other charities be subjected to the same tests? Will the National Trust have to do more for the poor? The Sith Institute? If not, why not?

Do we already know the answer?

Anorak

Posted: 18th, August 2007 | In: Twitterings Comment | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink