Private school funds under fire
Alberta boards urge province to return money to public system
The newly elected president of the Alberta School Boards Association hopes a new policy adopted by its membership calling for the end of funding private schools with public dollars sends a “forceful” message to the provincial government.
“Public boards are being strapped a bit for cash and we’re trying to do more with less,” said Helen Clease, who was elected to a two-year term as ASBA president at the organization’s fall general meeting this week.
“We don’t have an issue with there being private schools,” Clease added. “But we believe that the public dollars should go to public schools where every child can have access to that education.”
The policy, which was supported by 71 per cent of the 62 public and separate school boards represented by ASBA, calls for public funding currently provided to private schools be reallocated to public education, with the exception of designated special education private schools.
“At a time where every bit would help in the public education system, whether it’s substantial or not, I think we have to support public education,” said Clease.
“We’re there to take every child and we have to make sure that we can meet many, many diverse needs with our children in our communities,” she added.
Calgary’s public and separate school boards were divided on the resolution. While the Calgary Board of Education supported the policy, its separate school board counterpart did not.
“We think there are two issues here,” said Mary Martin, chair of the Calgary Catholic School District.
“We absolutely believe the province needs to provide adequate, predictable and sustainable funding if an education system is going to thrive,” Martin added. “But we also support choice in the province as well.”
Alberta Education awards private schools 70 per cent of the per-student basic education grant received by public school boards.
The 2013-14 budget sees accredited funded private schools and private early childhood service operators receive $206 million — an 88 per cent increase over six years.
However, unlike public schools, private school operators do not receive funding to pay for capital costs, maintenance or transportation.
“People simply ignore that it is a portion of one grant, base instruction, it’s not even all instruction,” said Duane Plantinga, executive director for the Association of Independent Schools and Colleges in Alberta.
Further, he added, “none of the funding (private schools) receive may come from taxes.”
“The actual condition of the funding grant ... is from general revenue,” Plantinga added. “And people don’t look at what’s not funded as a savings.”
Plantinga said he’s not surprised by the new ASBA policy because the issue is often misunderstood and has become increasingly politicized since 1967, when the province began funding private schools.
“Politically, we can’t fund it 100 per cent like other countries do, like the Netherlands,” he said. “But it’s very politicized, and it always will be.”
Alberta Liberal education critic Kent Hehr echoed Clease’s concerns, saying private schools tend to serve the elite and divide the population on the basis of wealth and religion.
“I don’t think the government should be propping up those causes and should be committed to a public education system for the benefit of the vast majority of its citizens,” Hehr said.
“I have every confidence that private schools will continue with or without the public dollars flowing to them,” he added.
But the founder of Calgary’s Webber Academy said the assertion that private schools only serve the elite is “unfair” and a falsehood.
“We like to think that we are elitist in that we will be able to give our students a better education than what they would get if they went to a public school,” said Neil Webber.
Stripping private schools of public funding would force operators to hike tuition, which many families already struggle to meet, said Webber.
“To generalize that all these families can afford it is not true,” he added.