Doug Ford’s ad for school choice
Afew years ago, when the Liberals governed Ontario, there was a great deal of disgruntlement and protest from religious and conservative parents who opposed the way the Liberals ran the public school system. Now that Doug Ford is in charge, progressives are aghast at the changes the Conservatives are bringing in, including revisions to the sex-ed curriculum, funding cuts for energy-efficient renovations, and the possible removal of the cap on class sizes.
Conservatives are unhappy with having their children schooled in a Liberal system, and those on the left are unhappy with Ford’s decisions on education. A reasonable person might well conclude that the real problem in Ontario is a government school monopoly, which forces diverse families into the same educational system. (Except for those that can afford to pay twice for schooling — first by paying school taxes and then paying for private tuition.)
No one is forcing all Ontario residents to get their food from a single government-run taxpayer-funded grocery store chain or their clothes from a government retailer. It is a wonder that a government monopoly, which is correctly regarded as absurd for just about everything else, should be considered normal in the case of schools.
When it comes to education, just as in food and clothing, parents have different tastes and children have diverse needs — a reality ignored by Ontario’s monopoly system. This problem could be solved through a voucher program: If parents are dissatisfied with the government-run schools, all or part of the money the government would spend on that child’s schooling should be refunded to the parents in the form of a voucher, which would be used to purchase private schooling subject to no government regulations except for minimum academic credit requirements.
The teachers unions would naturally protest. They would call spending public money for private schools an outrage. But the money was collected from taxpayers for educating children. If parents decide that the money would be more effective in educating their children in a privately run school instead of a government-run school, then so be it. Objections to giving parents more choice aren’t about ensuring quality schools for the benefit of students; they are about ensuring government and union monopolies.
Indeed, western provinces offer more school choice than Ontario does, and the benefits are clear. In British Columbia, independent schools are able to access some of the money collected by the government for education (with subsidies of up to 50 per cent of the per-student cost in public schools), giving families more access to independent schools and to higher-quality education. Even after excluding elite preparatory schools, students at independent schools score higher in English, math, science, and social studies than in the public system, and at a lower cost to taxpayers.
In Alberta, parental choice gets even more support: independent schools can use public education funds to cover up to 70 per cent of the per-student public school cost. Alberta also has autonomous charter schools, which are publicly funded and cannot charge tuition. As in British Columbia, test scores show that Alberta’s private school and charter school students consistently outperform those in public schools.
The benefits of school choice through voucher programs and charter schools aren’t just academic. As American education policy writer Kerry McDonald has noted, a recent U.S. study found “that states with generous charter school and voucher policies saw declines in adolescent suicide rates and that children who attend private schools have better long-term mental health outcomes.” School choice gives parents greater ability to improve their children’s well-being by selecting the learning environment that is most suitable for their children.
Moreover, even public school students benefit from school choice, because competition motivates public schools to improve quality in order to retain students. Competition and choice are always better for consumers than monopolies, and schools are no exception. Let the Doug Ford years be a lesson to liberals that the less control governments have over schools, the better for everyone.
THE REAL PROBLEM IN ONTARIO IS A GOVERNMENT MONOPOLY ON EDUCATION.