0.1 Literature review  (Page 2/19)

Circuit A comprising of Phoenix, Verulam and Tongaat

Circuit B comprising of Inanda, Ntuzuma and Kwa Mashu

Circuit C comprising of Krantzkloof, Ndengezi and Westville

Circuit D comprising of Inchanga, Molweni and Mpumalanga

This research study will focus on, in the main, the management of the finances of the 500 ordinary public schools.

The process of budget allocation by a Provincial Education Department to schools in a particular education district involves drawing the Resource Targeting List of schools, which lists all schools in that province, sorted by the level of poverty prevalent in the community surrounding the school based on Statistics South Africa (StatsSA) Census data. Table 1 indicates the Norms and Standards budget allocation made by the Provincial Education Department to schools in the Pinetown Education District.

In addition to the budget allocations (norms and standards) received from the provincial education department, schools also generate additional funds by levying school fees. Table 2 below indicates the school fees levied by fee-charging schools in the Pinetown Education District during the 2008 financial year, which is from 01 January 2008 to 31 December 2008. The fees indicated in table 2 represent the actual school fees collected during the review period – the average collection rate was recorded at +/- 35%, that is a bad debt factor of +/- 65% (most schools wrote off on average 65% of the school fees as bad), however the ex-Model C schools, which charge between R10, 000.00 to R20, 000.00 per learner per annum, reported (on average) a 90% collection rate.

Policies and procedures

According to the DoE: Self-Managing Schools (2000; 7), the South African Schools Act provides the basis for a system, which devolves much more power to schools. At the heart of the South African Schools Act is the principle that each school is on a path to self-management – if it is not already there. The intention of the State to make schools self-reliant is reinforced since “central to the new education system (is) that the South African Schools Act gives every school the status of juristic person” DoE: Self-Managing Schools (2000; 9). This implies that the assets acquired by the school become the property of the school and the school, as a legal personality, is responsible for the liabilities of the school.

According to the South African Schools Act, Section 15 [Status of Public Schools]: