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Monday 12 August 2019

Ask ISL - Capital levy

I beg to differ with this inspite of the same having been agreed at the last AGM. A capital levy should be commensurate to the time students have spent in the school
and the time remaining on their academic life. I have been paying fees at this school for over ten years (Three Students) and you cannot expect me to contribute the same capital levy with a Parent who has been at the school for less than two years and whose children will remain at the school for another five years or so. My suggestion therefore is that those of us that have paid fees and contributed over the years to the development of the school should be given a discount commensurate to the time spent and the time remaining. Charging a blanket capital levy is unreasonable.

Answer

Hello and thank you for your question to the ask service.

The original intention of the board was to raise fees by 5%, commensurate with rising costs and fee increases in comparable schools. Rather than implementing the fees increase, the board instead introduced a capital levy of equal value; the increase to parents would, in any case, be the same.

The reason for doing it this way is because capital levies that are spent on bona fide capital projects are treated differently for tax purposes on our end. It also aligns our revenue allocation with board priorities that include capital projects.

It could be argued that students near the end of schooling should not pay for capital projects. In fact, much of our infrastructure was built in the 1990s and frankly has not been adequately maintained. Students today benefit from capital projects paid for in the past and we must all pay our share. Maintainance and reinvestment are part of the cost of running the school.

We hope this answers your question.

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