How much would you pay for your child's art?
That's the question one Australian kindergarten posed to dozens of families this week when it asked them to stump up A$2,200 (£1,000; $1,400) for the pleasure of taking home a curated portfolio of their child's artwork.
The folders included many a random blob and splodge, alongside happy snaps of the would-be Picassos making creations only a parent could love.
Billed as a fundraiser, the debt-ridden centre said the money from the portfolios would go towards whittling down a long list of overdue bills, including unpaid wages for educators.
Craigslea Community Kindergarten and Preschool in Brisbane closed last month after funding was halted amid an investigation into claims about its governance.
Its obscure request, however, has sparked anger in Queensland, with the state's leader calling it emotional blackmail, regulators staging an intervention, and one parent allegedly going to extreme lengths to take back their child's collection of artworks in the middle of the night.
How the saga unfolded
The controversy has been months in the making - tensions between management and parents at the kindergarten centre have been steadily brewing this year.
It's a community-run centre affiliated with one of the state's largest childcare providers, the Creche and Kindergarten Association (C&K). While the latter helps distribute government funding, the day-to-day operations of the centre were controlled by a volunteer committee, made up of parents and community members.
That committee was gutted last month when a dispute led to the mass resignation of its president, vice-president and secretary, leaving its treasurer Thomas D'Souza to take over the helm.
The new management fired existing staff and hired temporary workers, leading many parents to remove their kids from the centre.
Parents lodged complaints about Mr. D'Souza being the sole committee member, prompting C&K to pause funding as authorities investigated the way the centre was being run.
On Sunday night, the inboxes of the families with children at the kindergarten pinged with an email from management wanting to address a tumultuous few weeks.
The lengthy missive revealed a plan to sell the children's art portfolios for thousands a pop. Parents were left stunned by the request.
A spokesperson for the Department of Education assured parents they had a legal right to their children's works, and the Department confirmed they had launched a successful recovery operation, retrieving the children's collections from the kindergarten.
C&K condemned the practice of charging parents for portfolios, reaffirming that these important records are now available for families to collect.
For these parents, their children's art is now both priceless and free.
