A mom in England fed up with being fined for taking her kids on vacation during school term time has clapped back at the system in a hilarious viral video.
Holidays are an important component of life for a family. A 2022 study published in the journal Tourism Management highlighted just how important. Researchers administered questionnaires to parents and elementary school age children from 217 families.
The results highlighted how parents’ well-being and their children’s generic life skills increase after going on vacation.
But holidays don’t come cheap, especially if you are based in the U.K. and looking to go on vacation during the allotted school holidays.
Roxanne Balciunas applies makeup to her daughter’s face in this still from her spoof video. The video hits out at rules around family vacations during school term time.
TikTok/travelswithroxy
In fact, a study conducted by newspaper The Independent found parents can pay as much as 16 times more by booking trips during school holidays, compared with if they had gone away during term time.
However, parents taking their kids on vacation during school term face hefty fines for doing so and the punishments for repeat offenders can go beyond financial penalties now.
In August, the U.K. government’s Department for Education increased the fines levied at parents breaking these rules. The penalty for unauthorized school absence rose from £60 ($78) to £80 ($105) and goes up to £160 rather than the previous £120 if unpaid within 21 days.
If another unauthorized absence involving the same parent is reported in the next three years, the initial fine stands at £160.
More significantly, there is no third penalty notice in the event of another offense with the official guidance warning that “alternative action” will be explored which could potentially include criminal prosecution.
The new measures came as the BBC reported that nearly 400,000 penalty notices were issued to parents in England for unauthorized school absences over the course of the 2022-23 academic year.
That’s a source of some concern to the U.K’s Department for Education, which argues that children who perform better at school miss fewer days than other kids.
“The higher a pupil’s attendance, the more they are likely to learn, and the better they are likely to perform in exams and formal assessments,” according to the department.
It points to data from 2019 that shows 84 percent of children aged from seven to 11 who had 100 percent attendance achieved the expected standards in reading, writing and math, compared with 40 percent of pupils who were persistently absent in this age range.
Children in this age group who didn’t achieve the expected standards missed on average four more days per school year than those whose performance exceeded the expected standard.
The data also highlighted how children attending the U.K. equivalent of high school who didn’t achieve the standard grade in English and math missed an average of 10 more days per year than those who did.
Yet some parents, like Roxanne Balciunas from Sheffield in England, are happy to accept the fines for their children missing some days of schooling, given the alternative.
“I get fined every year for taking the kids away,” Balciunas told Newsweek. “I refuse to pay thousands for a holiday that costs literally £250 each in term time.”
Balciunas told Newsweek she has “never minded the fines” but did have one costly experience with them.
“One time the fine didn’t get to me and I had a bailiff turn up at my place of work so I had to just pay him £480 as opposed to £60 if I’d received the letter,” she said.
She thinks the system of fines is “ridiculous” and unfair.
“Schools take kids away during school time,” Balciunas said. “My son’s school took them to a theme park five days into a new term. When they take them on trips, they always send letters saying how the kids will benefit from the activities and culture—yet if I take my kids to the same places then it’s neglect.”
Balciunas regularly posts videos offering travel tips and advice on TikTok under the handle travelswithroxy but recently courted attention on the platform with a video poking fun at the school fines system.
In the clip, she can be seen applying pale makeup to her daughter’s face with an onscreen caption explaining how she had told her school she had “chickenpox” but now needed to cover up the tan she got during a trip to Greece.
“It wasn’t real. We only made the video to show how silly the rules on taking your kids out of school are,” she said.
The video generated a huge reaction though, racking up 2.1 million views and counting. Balciunas said that while there were a few “Karens” in the comments section who didn’t seem to realize it was a gag, plenty agreed with her stance, including a few unexpected supporters.
“From the comments it seems to me that the teachers don’t agree with the rules or care” she said. “It’s the school admin team who basically want good figures to make their schools look better.”
The video’s viral success, coupled with the popularity of a few other of her TikToks, has helped Balciunas generate more than enough money to cover the £780 in fines she has racked up to date, leaving a little extra on top.
“We are actually using it to book a cheap holiday for next week,” she said.
Balciunas hopes her video has raised awareness of the issue.
“I hope something is done about the ridiculous rules and that they are changed or some exemption is made,” she said.
“To be honest I believe the school holidays should be four weeks in August and then kids can have two weeks a year where they don’t receive a fine should they go away, and it would also help those parents who struggle for child care over summer,” she said.
