‘Least bad option’: Why worried mother could leave UK and head to Trump’s America

Following the US election results, internet searches for how to distance themselves from future President Donald Trump’s America have increased.

From Australia to Canada, voters are concerned about some of his most controversial policies seem to be thinking seriously about looking for new accommodation.

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But in the UK, a concerned mother thinks returning to the US could be the best option for her children.

Liana Fricker, who lives in Surrey after moving from California more than 20 years ago, has two sons who are diagnosed with ADHD.

Aged 14 and 10, they attend a private school, a “very gifted” school for working with young people suffering from this disease.

But with tuition fees expected to rise by 15.4% in January when the government scraps the VAT exemption on private schools, she says it will soon be “off the charts”.

Liana says she had no choice but to pull at least one of her sons from school. That means sending her to a public school or returning to the United States, where she thinks her family would have more choices.

“It’s ironic,” she said. “Because yes, even with Donald Trump, I have to think about what is the least bad option.”

In the United States, she says the concept of government policy dictating her choice of school is foreign to her. Instead, there is an idea that “everyone is free to do what they want within the law and the Constitution.”

“If you send your children to a private school, you get a tax reduction as a thank you for paying taxes and not using the service.”

Liana clearly knows there are “excellent” public schools in her area, but the problem would be making sure her sons are accepted there – ideally together.

Her 14-year-old son is already studying for his GCSEs and she fears his studies will be disrupted. He might have to study entirely new subjects if the same options were not offered to him.

He is one of thousands of private school students who critics fear will be displaced by government policy.

Labor says the change will fund around 6,500 new teachers in state schools, and the Treasury says it “does not expect this policy to have a significant impact on the overall number of pupils attending private schools “.

But Liana says it will make “everything a lot harder”.

“I think the long-term viability of private education is going out the window,” she says, as parents wonder how long they can afford to pay tuition fees.

And private school students are not the only ones to feel the consequences.

She fears that children with special educational needs (SEN) – like her sons’ ADHD – who are “excluded from private schools” will now be “forced to exceed the resources of other schools”.

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“If I were a parent in a public school, I would be angry because that’s what’s going to happen.”

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Children with SEN are only exempt from VAT on private school fees if they benefit from an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) funded by the local authority which places them in a particular school.

It does not take into account children whose parents decide to enroll them in private schools because of their needs.

This is the case of Liana, who chose a particular school, adapted to her children.

“It’s not so much how the private school system helps you, but rather because it gives you choice,” she says.

Liana wants a “fair, impartial and transparent impact assessment across the country”, ensuring ministers understand what the policy means for pupils and schools.

The government said an impact assessment had taken place and it was published with the budget at the end of October. He was accused of “rushing” the adoption of the policy.given that the budget was tabled just two months before it came into force.

But a source stressed that the impact assessment was based on the analysis of the Office for Budget Responsibility, which it considers fair, impartial and transparent.

A government spokesperson added: “We want to ensure that all children have the best chance of success in life. Ending tax breaks on private schools will help raise the revenue needed to eliminate barriers to opportunity for children and youth across the country.

“We do not expect this policy to have a significant impact on the overall number of students attending private schools. The number of students in private schools has remained stable since 2000, despite an actual increase of around 75 % of tuition fees in private schools since then.

For Liana’s children, the “best chance in life” may now be on the other side of the Atlantic.