Changes to Voluntary Contributions Policy for the 2026 School Year
4 months agoIn many schools, parents have become used to receiving formal requests from the school to pay for a whole range of things. While officially ‘voluntary’, many parents have felt pressured to pay.
More broadly the Federation has been concerned that some of these requests are quite frankly things that schools should routinely pay for out of their budgets.
A recent parliamentary committee confirmed the size of these contributions. In 2024 the NSW Department of Education collected $30.7 million voluntary contributions from parents with a further $43.5 million for school sport contributions and a separate $40.8 million for special subject contributions. This does not include financial contributions made by P&Cs to their school.
From 2026 an updated set of rules will apply to what schools may or may not ask parents and carers to contribute to.
You can read them here on the Department of Education website.
Here are the key points from the Department’s guidelines:
The payment of voluntary school contributions is at the discretion of parents and carers. Schools must not deny any student the opportunity to meet syllabus requirements because of non-payment of voluntary school contributions. There must be no incentives or penalties tied to voluntary contribution payments.
Schools will fund the following using their annual school budget.
Parents and carers should not be asked for payment or contributions for:
- classroom items such as tissues, markers or cleaning supplies
- delivery of core curriculum subjects including course material costs and textbooks
- technology subscriptions used in direct classroom instruction or for mandatory homework
- school funded infrastructure projects (except through the Library Fund & Building Fund)
- additional teaching or school administrative and support staff.
Parents and carers can be asked to contribute towards:
- mandatory excursions (including camps, swimming and athletics carnivals) and incursions
- specialised activities with additional costs (sport, performing arts, coaching, transport, facility hire, tutoring costs).
Schools must provide student assistance to cover part or all of these costs in cases of financial hardship.
In some cases this will be a big change for principals who have become used to asking and receiving these contributions.
The guidelines set out a clear and important role for P&Cs. We strongly encourage parents and carers to review the new guidelines and compare to the usual practice at your school. P&Cs are encouraged to meet with Principals as soon as possible to discuss the implications for 2026.
The P&C Federation was actively involved in this change, and we thank the NSW Department of Education for engaging constructively with our feedback. We look forward to the new school year with a clearer and fairer set of rules in place.
Author
P&C Federation
The P&C Federation is committed to a free public education system which is inclusive of all, irrespective of culture, gender, academic ability and socio-economic status. Parents, as partners in the education process, have a right and a responsibility to play an active role in the education of their children. We support nearly 2,000 P&C Associations across NSW, represent the voice of parents and work to help public school communities to thrive.
