No grand conspiracy to privatize education
Never having been one to subscribe to conspiracy theories, I have little interest in grassy knolls or Elvis sightings in Walmart.
But every now and then one pops up from somewhere that gives pause for thought, however passing — the theory, which has been around for years, that somehow governments, locally, nationally and abroad, would like to privatize public education.
An online news and blog source, the comfortably left-of-centre Rabble.ca, recently published a piece entitled How to Privatize a Public Education
System by Lizanne Foster. Foster, a teacher, has taught the humanities in secondary schools for 18 years in B.C. Her blog, “B.C. Education in the Age of Climate Change,” enjoys a substantial following.
Foster suggests that close ties between business leaders and government is a prerequisite. For business to contribute substantially to the governing party is a wise investment.
Business, she suggests, recognizes the possibilities of a pot of government money.
For the 2016/17 school year, operating grants to public schools will total $4.864 billion, according to the Ministry of Education. Tempting.
Foster is critical, as are many educators (including this writer), of prac- tices that erode the collaborative and co-operative foundations of public education, along with public confidence, by introducing competition between schools, as the Fraser Institute rankings do.
Foster expresses concern about the apparent government-supported growth of B.C.’s two-tier system, one public and one independent, but both supported by public funds. She echoes the frustration of public-school advocates who watch while private schools advertise everything that public schools are accused of not having: small class sizes, new technology, support for students with learning disabilities.
According to the B.C. Teachers’ Federation, certainly not a disinterested group, “independent” schools already receive substantial government funding of nearly $300 million a year and teach 12 per cent of B.C. students.
The BCTF calculates that funding has jumped 45.6 per cent for private schools since 2005, while public school funding rose only 16.9 per cent.
In fact, Group One private schools, which include most religion-based institutions, now get 50 per cent of their operating funds from the government while Group Two, composed of private schools with higher tuition and tougher admission requirements, get 35 per cent funding.
With yearly fees at exclusive schools such as St. George’s running at $18,995 for Grades 1 to 7 and $21,355 for Grades 8 to 12, independent schools can easily outspend public schools per student.
Whether or not some grand plan for privatizing the public system exists, and I have difficulty believing in such a plan, more thoughtful opposition to privatization suggests that it is failure of governments to supply quality public education to the majority of its citizenry that creates and supports the need for independent schools.
It is not so much that there is some ideological agenda that ignores any idea of the “public good” of public education — that alone does not fuel the “no privatization” lobby.
It is more likely the corporate education reformer’s narrow focus on business and the market system that continues to undermine and distort the purposes of quality public education.
What has been absent for too long is the presence of a clear and credible voice from any one or all of the selfstyled “stakeholders” in defence of public education.
For whatever reason, the B.C. School Trustees’ Association, the B.C. Confederation of Parent Advisory Councils, the B.C. Principals’ and Vice Principal’s Association and even the B.C. School Superintendent’s Association tend to stand on the sidelines, publicly at least, as public schools that take all students deal with multiple challenges. These range from kids with special needs to providing English-as-a-second-language to immigrant students, all while resources dwindle and class sizes grow.
Even so, the privatization theory, to my mind at least, survives only as an academic discussion. To contemplate what would be necessary to privatize education for half a million kids and 44,000 public-school teachers in thousands of schools across B.C. would boggle the mind of even the most profit-oriented corporate planners.
Could it be done for $4.864 billion? Not likely.