The head of the English Schools Foundation says the HK$25,000 levy being introduced next year could have been avoided if money had not been spent on building two private independent schools.
But the foundation denied that hefty fee increases over the past five years are due to late repayments on the HK$278 million investment in the loss-making Renaissance College and Discovery College.
Chief executive Heather Du Quesnay said yesterday: 'I guess you could argue that we wouldn't need the refundable capital levy if the HK$278 million had not been spent on the private independent schools.
'The amount of money that the refundable capital levy will raise - HK$300 million - is very similar to the amount that we spent on the private independent schools. But I think we still would argue that by establishing the levy, we hope to leverage extra government funding.
'We are waiting for approval from Legco for the finance for the rebuilding of Kowloon Junior School and we hope that if we get that funding, it will lead to the government being able to fund us for some of the bigger schools such as KGV.
'Fees in the ESF have not been affected at all by the establishment of the private independent schools. The funding of the PIS came from the cash balance, which had already been built up over the period when fees in the ESF were not increased.'
Du Quesnay said she did not expect the two schools to make money 'within their first few years', when some year groups were still to be established. But they should cover their costs and provide a 'little bit of surplus' once they were full. The schools were expected to repay the full investment plus an annual return within the 20-year repayment period.
