An Assessment of Funding Management Strategies in ‘’No Fee’’ Schools in Cape Town: With Specific Reference to Selected Primary Schools.

Abstract

Purpose: South Africa has a growing literature on no-fees public schools’ policy. The vision of this policy is to ensure that all citizens have equal access to quality basic education. This study, assessed the funding-management strategies in three no-fees public primary schools within the Western Cape Education Department. The specific objective of this study was to identify and discuss the funding-management strategies of schools in resources scarce communities and its impact in providing quality education.
 Methodology: The study used a qualitative research model. Data were collected through semi-structured guided questions. A total of nine participants were chosen using purposeful sampling, which is selecting participants based on their experiences and knowledge. Participants comprised three school principals’, three chairpersons of the school governing body, and three school finance heads. Data were recorded using telephonic conversation due to the covid-19 pandemic. The conversations were recorded and later transcribed word by word, as a result, the data were analyzed by the researcher using a thematic data analysis approach. To instill trust in the research findings, the researcher combined individual interviews with information from the participants and an analysis of written documents. As such, the data from interviews and the case study were verified to see if they pointed in the same direction. Also, the researcher gave all the participants a chance to verify whether or not the facts were what they gave to the researcher as data.
 Results: The study showed that schools involved in financial management realize that it is wise to manage their budgets more carefully than in the past, especially since budgets have always been tighter over the years. Thus, the topics of financial management, financial planning, reporting, recordkeeping, and control all present themselves in the same way. Funding strategies have improved transparency, accountability and collective accountability. However, there are still shortcomings in school fund management such as lack of clear strategic planning, irregular reporting and control measures. The study concluded that tuition waivers and funding management strategies in under-resourced communities affect the performance of elementary schools.
 Recommendations: Aligning funding strategies with policy goals is essential to ensuring that financial resources are used effectively to guide school reform and development. School-level learning objectives need to be clearly defined and prioritized, especially in school with resource planning responsibilities.