Collecting unpaid fees at a public school
What the law lets a South African public school do about unpaid school fees, the steps that must come first, and what it may never do to the learner.
By Achekam · · 4 min read · For Education businesses in South Africa
For the treasurer of a South African school governing body, unpaid fees are not an abstract problem. The fees pay for the extra teachers the SGB employs, the security guard at the gate and the photocopier lease. When a meaningful share of families do not pay, the budget passed at the annual general meeting cannot be met.
The law gives a public school the right to collect its fees, including through the courts. It also sets firm limits on how, and on what may never happen to a child because a parent has not paid. A collection process that ignores those limits can expose the SGB to complaints and leave a learner treated unlawfully. This article sets out what the Department of Basic Education (DBE) says, in the order an SGB should apply it.
Fees are the governing body's job, unless the school is no-fee
The DBE says that under the South African Schools Act, all school governing bodies of public schools must supplement government funding by charging school fees and other reasonable fundraising. Only schools declared "no fee schools" may not charge fees. No-fee schools are published in a Provincial Gazette and are identified by the economic level of the community around the school.
So for a fee-charging public school, collecting fees is not optional: it is part of the SGB's duty to fund the school. For a no-fee school, there is nothing to collect, and any attempt to charge compulsory fees is the problem.
The DBE's page on school fees and exemption sets out parents' and schools' rights on fees, exemptions, appeals and the protection of learners.
Legal action comes only after the exemption criteria
The DBE says a public school may take legal action against a parent who does not pay school fees only after the exemption criteria have been applied and the parent is still liable. The learner must remain in school while the case is on.
In practice, that sequence matters:
- The school must have an exemption process that parents know about.
- A parent who cannot pay should be able to apply, and the criteria must be applied to their application.
- Only a parent who remains liable after that, in full or in part, can be sued for the unpaid amount.
Suing a parent before that sequence has run its course goes against the order the DBE describes. How exemption works is covered in school fee exemptions.
Holding back while an appeal is heard
The DBE also says a parent whose exemption application is declined may appeal to the provincial Head of Department within 30 days of being notified, and the SGB may not take any action against the parent until the appeal is heard.
The bursary should therefore know, for each family in arrears, whether there is:
- no exemption application;
- an application under consideration;
- a declined application, with the date the parent was notified;
- an appeal lodged, and not yet decided.
Families in the last two categories, within the appeal period or with an appeal pending, are off limits for collection action until the outcome is known.
What the learner keeps, whatever the parent owes
The DBE is clear that the learner is not the debtor:
- a learner cannot be excluded from any official school programme because the parent has not paid school fees;
- a school may not retain a learner's report because the parent cannot afford the fees;
- the learner must remain in school while a legal case about fees is under way.
Brief class teachers, sports coaches and the front office on these rules each year. The pressure to "do something" about arrears can land on whoever is nearest the child, and a single well-meant but unlawful step, such as holding back a report, can undo months of careful process by the SGB.
Three years, not forever
Section 11 of the Prescription Act 68 of 1969 sets three years as the prescription period for any debt not otherwise listed, unless an Act of Parliament provides otherwise. Other periods apply to judgment debts and certain secured and State debts. A fee balance left untouched for long enough may prescribe, after which the SGB may be unable to enforce it.
That is a reason to deal with arrears steadily, and to decide in good time whether a debt will be pursued or written off, rather than letting old balances drift. Interest on late fees is a separate question, covered in interest on overdue fees.
Reminders, statements and the report for the governing body
The routine work of reminding families can run on its own in Achekam, leaving the SGB to make the decisions the law reserves for it.
- Reminders. Credit control is on for new workspaces. Once a day it e-mails overdue reminders and a monthly statement to customers with a balance, never charges anyone, and records whether each e-mail went out. By default, reminders go at 7, 14 and 30 days overdue with the invoice PDF attached, if the workspace's e-mail settings work. The SGB should decide how families with a pending exemption application or appeal are to be treated, and whether reminders to them are appropriate.
- Statements. The server produces a customer statement of account as a PDF that can be e-mailed, and the screen says whether it was sent. A statement is the natural document to attach to an invitation to discuss arrears or to apply for exemption.
- The age analysis. Receivables are aged into 0-30, 31-60, 61-90, 91-120 and over 120 days, with overdue totals. Table it at every finance committee meeting, with each family's exemption and appeal status noted alongside.
Families on payment arrangements are covered in fee instalments and part payments.
Before the next finance committee, put the DBE's steps into a one-page collection procedure, and have the SGB adopt it at its next meeting.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
