Guernsey States to continue with school boards plan
Montague added the plan would ensure schools and headteachers were "well-supported...and accountable". He said he wanted to make sure each board of governors would "make a positive contribution to the lives of the children, young people and adult learners they support".A spokesperson for ESC said they also wanted to explore ways to strengthen ties between schools and douzaines.The States will consider new legislation in September to formally introduce the boards, ESC added.
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Telegraph
7 hours ago
- Telegraph
The VAT raid on private schools continues to unravel
Punishing parents for paying for their children's education was never going to end well for Bridget Phillipson, the Education Secretary. Few policies have been so speedily exposed as vindictive and counterproductive as Labour's imposition of VAT on school fees. At least 10,000 pupils have been forced to move out of independent schools and have thus become a burden on the Exchequer. Some 50 schools have already closed and more will surely follow. The state sector has yet to see the much-vaunted 6,000 extra teachers. One of the perverse effects of this experiment in class warfare has been to penalise poorer families. The genuinely affluent are able to pay their fees years in advance. As The Telegraph today reveals, many thousands have done just that, potentially avoiding the VAT that was imposed from this January onwards. The top 50 independent schools held £515m in advance fees last year, up from £121m in 2023. This may have cost the Treasury over £100m in VAT it would otherwise have received. But parents with more modest means cannot afford to do this. Many have been forced to take their children out of private education, thereby turning schools that had catered for a broad range of backgrounds into a closer approximation of what the Left stigmatise them for being: the preserve of the wealthy. As if this mean-spirited fiscal assault on education had not done enough damage, Lord Kinnock has now proposed to extend the principle to health as well. The former Labour leader – now enjoying a comfortable retirement thanks to years on the Brussels gravy train – is all for charging VAT on private health care too. Those who remember the days when Margaret Thatcher used to bat such daft Labour proposals back across the Despatch Box will doubtless recall that fees for private health were then tax-deductible. Now, there is an idea that the Conservatives should seriously consider reviving.
Reuters
11 hours ago
- Reuters
US judge says he won't explain error-ridden ruling in Mississippi civil rights case
Aug 4 (Reuters) - A federal judge in Mississippi declined to give an explanation for a ruling he issued last month which the state said contained references to made-up material, incorrect plaintiffs and defendants, and other serious errors. In an order, opens new tab on Friday, U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate in Jackson, Mississippi said his July 20 decision contained 'clerical errors referencing improper parties and factual allegations,' and that he issued a new opinion after correcting the mistakes. 'No further explanation is warranted,' Wingate wrote. The judge's decision, issued in a civil rights case brought by the Mississippi Association of Educators, stopped the state for now from enforcing a ban on diversity, equity and inclusion programs in state universities and public schools. After Wingate replaced the ruling with a corrected version, lawyers for the state asked, opens new tab him last week to clarify what had happened and to "preserve the record." Wingate said in Friday's filing that judges have the authority to correct what he called clerical mistakes and errors arising from oversight or omission, and no further action was needed. He also declined to make the original, faulty ruling available on the public docket. Wingate, the Mississippi attorney general's office and attorneys for the plaintiffs did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The state's lawyers have not publicly suggested a reason for the errors. They came to light the same week that a federal judge in an unrelated New Jersey case also retracted a decision containing seemingly made-up case citations and other errors. In the New Jersey case, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters last week that a temporary assistant had used an artificial intelligence platform to research the decision, and that the opinion was inadvertently issued before a review process was able to catch errors introduced by AI. The judge in that lawsuit, Julien Xavier Neals, said in a notation on the docket that a corrected decision will be issued. As the use of AI in legal work has grown, lawyers have faced ethics scrutiny or been sanctioned for failing to catch fictitious case citations or other mistakes produced by the technology and including the errors in case filings. Indiana University law school professor Charles Geyh called the mistakes in the Mississippi and New Jersey rulings 'more egregious than I'm accustomed to seeing in federal court.' The case is Mississippi Association of Educators et al. v. Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Mississippi, No. 3:25-cv-00417-HTW-LGI. For plaintiff: Joshua Tom of the American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi Foundation; Robert McDuff of Mississippi Center for Justice; Amir Badat of Badat Legal; and Nicolas Stanojevich of Quinn, Connor, Weaver, Davies & Rouco For defendant: Rex Shannon III and Lisa Reppeto of the Mississippi attorney general's office Read more: Two US judges withdraw rulings after attorneys question accuracy Judge disqualifies three Butler Snow attorneys from case over AI citations AI 'hallucinations' in court papers spell trouble for lawyers Trouble with AI 'hallucinations' spreads to big law firms
Daily Mail
13 hours ago
- Daily Mail
School's out forever! Labour's VAT raid sees more than 50 private schools announce closures so far this year
More than 50 private schools have closed or announced plans to do so this year after Labour 's VAT raid came into force in January. The new 20 per cent tax on fees has hit school budgets partly due to families being priced out and leaving the sector. New analysis shows at least 54 private schools have folded since January 1, when the tax became effective. These include top prep schools, sixth-form colleges and those serving children with special educational needs (SEN). Julie Robinson, chief executive of the Independent Schools Council, told The Times: 'We remain concerned about children falling through the cracks as specialist schools are threatened or become out of the reach of the parents who have depended on them.' Among those affected was the century-old Moorlands School in Leeds, which blamed Labour's tax raid on fees and other rising costs when it announced closure last month. Also closing were nearby Fulneck School in Pudsey, and Queen Margaret's School for Girls, based in Escrick, York. In the south, Park Hill School in Kingston, Surrey, and Falcons School, in Putney, southwest London, both announced closures due to falling pupils following the tax change. Critcis say the closures have put extra pressure on local state schools, where pupils are having to migrate. Last month, it was revealed state schools in Kent received almost 100 inquiries from parents about places in just 48 hours after Bishop Challoner School announced closure. The latest government figures show that in January, there were 582,477 pupils in independent schools in England, down from 593,486 the previous year - a sharper decline than expected. While the number of independent schools still rose over the same period, from 2,421 in January last year to 2,456 in January this year, the increase would probably have been higher were it not for the introduction of VAT on school fees, according to sector insiders. The Government has insisted the policy is not causing significant disruption. It says approximately 50 mainstream private schools typically close each year anyway, due to a range of reasons. A Department for Education spokesman said: 'Ending tax breaks for private schools will raise £1.8 billion a year by 2029-30 to help fund public services, including supporting the 94 per cent of children in state schools to achieve and thrive.' 'The number of children in independent schools has remained steady, while the most recent data shows the rate of families getting a place at their preferred secondary school is at its highest in almost ten years.' In June parents and private schools lost their legal battle against VAT on fees in the High Court. They argued the policy was discriminatory against children with SEN, and other special characteristics. Independent schools support more than 100,000 children with SEN. Bridget Phillipson, the Education Secretary, has said the money raised will pay for 6,500 new teachers and other state school improvements. However, Keir Starmer has also appeared to suggest on Twitter the money could be siphoned off to pay for housing.
