Achieving an inclusive and fair school funding model

Re: The goal should be educational inclusion, not homogeneity — Feb. 17

The promises and merits of Canadian diversity, or inclusion if you will, that our prime minister emphasizes in and out of season, at home or abroad, they are scarcely visible in this province when it comes to how education is structured, particularly when it comes to how our education tax dollars are allocated.

Public school board trustee John Hendry says a still less inclusive, single board would save money. Letter writer Paul Mundy rightfully recognizes that it’s not all about saving money but also about inclusivity. He proposes a second, nonpublic board to include also the currently unfunded, so-called private schools. However, that would not recognize diversity beyond the public, nonpublic distinction, and that would still ignore legitimately diverse contexts for doing education.

My wife and I have raised five children, schooled through Grade 12 in Christian private schools; they were not funded from our education tax dollars. We are thankful that these schools can be there, as a nod to diversity, I suppose. But we paid dearly for this freedom, having to forgo many personal and family vacations, a paid-off mortgage upon retirement, and more, while still paying our share of “publicly funded education” via taxes.

Clearly, there can be a more inclusive and fairer way to deal with diversity in education, and that is to fund all accredited school systems and their boards equally.

Ed Grootenboer

Waterloo