Are B.C. schools really that ‘starved’ for resources?
After a close, dramatic election and a lengthy period of uncertainty, John Horgan and his cabinet were recently sworn into office.
Former party leader Carole James is the province’s new finance minister and former education critic Rob Fleming is B.C.’s new education minister.
While there are always challenges to be addressed, both Fleming and James have inherited portfolios that are in comparatively good shape. British Columbia’s students are performing very well on international standardized tests and lead the country for student performance in several areas.
This has been achieved while keeping costs comparatively low. Indeed, British Columbia’s per-student costs in its public schools are among the lowest of the provinces.
As for the finance minister, B.C.’s finances are among the most sound in the country as the province is projecting a fourth operating surplus and maintains a relatively small public debt burden. The comparatively low per-student costs in B.C. schools are a contributing factor to the province’s fiscal success.
In most areas of economic life, it is common sense that combining high performance with low costs is seen as a positive outcome. And so it should be in government. It’s worrying that the NDP and Green party coalition often speaks as though the province’s comparatively low costs in public education are a problem that needs to be solved rather than an advantage that has helped keep the budget balanced.
The NDP platform claims Christy Clark’s government “starved” the province’s public schools. Meanwhile, the Greens accused the Liberals of “chronic underfunding” of the public education system. Both imply the education system needs more money thrown at it in order to serve students better.
Students are performing well at current funding levels. Historical data suggests claims that the province’s education system is “starved” for resources and “chronically” underfunded are just hyperbole.
In fact, it’s important to recognize the province has actually been increasing education spending in recent years, not removing money from the system as such rhetoric suggests. Between 2004-05 and 2013-14 — the last year that data was available — education spending grew from $5.3 billion to $6.4 billion. Crucially, this spending growth has occurred during a period when enrolment in public schools declined by 9.5 per cent.
In other words, the province is spending more money on fewer students. On a per-student basis, inflation adjusted per-student education spending in public schools increased by 18.3 per cent from 2004-05 to 2013-14.
It’s difficult to describe this increase as “starving” the public school system, especially when it has been sufficient to deliver excellent student performance outcomes. Some provinces, such as Alberta, have increased spending considerably faster than B.C., but without clear evidence of positive impacts on student performance in recent years. What’s more, the more modest rate of spending growth in B.C. in this large area of expenditure is one of many reasons the bottom line of British Columbia’s budget is in better shape than Alberta’s today.
Keeping up with expenditures in other provinces is not a good enough reason to increase education spending. Instead, it’s important for the new government to clearly articulate the gains in student outcomes they hope to achieve from any additional spending and present a plan to measure whether the extra money is actually leading to better results. For example, if the allocation of more money simply means increased staff compensation in B.C. schools (which already consumes the majority of all education spending) and no additional gains in terms of student outcomes, it would be hard to see how the increased spending would be benefiting students or taxpayers.
British Columbia enjoys one of the strongest performing education systems in the country, along with public finances that are among the soundest in Canada. These advantages are important for the province’s long-term growth prospects and economic well-being. British Columbia’s mix of comparatively moderate education spending and excellent student results is best viewed as an advantage to be maintained and consolidated — not as a problem to be solved.
Ben Eisen is director of provincial prosperity studies at the Fraser Institute and Angela Macleod is an analyst with the Fraser Institute’s Barbara Mitchell Centre for Improvement in Education