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Are schools too reliant on parents to fund classroom essentials?

Are schools too reliant on parents to fund classroom essentials?

Scottish schools are so starved of cash that classrooms only get by because parents鈥 fundraising efforts for equipment, a damning new report says. It has prompted fresh calls for schools to be taken out of council control completely to avoid the risk of more closures and cuts, with the prospect of a national education body or control being handed to grass-roots bodies. Eileen Prior of the Scottish Parent Teacher Council, told Holyrood鈥檚 education committee: 鈥淲e鈥檙e supposed to have a system of education that is free at the point of delivery 鈥 we don鈥檛. We鈥檝e been tracking this for a number of years and parent groups are raising funds not for frills, not for ribbons or fancy things, but for fundamental resources,鈥 she said. 鈥淧arent groups are funding things which would previously have been included in the school budget 鈥 that is across the board.鈥

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