IT’S TIME TO END SUBSIDIES TO ELITE PRIVATE SCHOOLS
Redirecting funds could add $43 million to special-needs spending, says Alex Hemingway.
As the B.C. government consults on how it will allocate money in its next budget, a potentially easy win awaits on the education front.
Every year, the provincial government provides hundreds of millions of dollars in public funding to private schools, including elite prep schools. Given that B.C.’s public education system has been severely underfunded for most of the past two decades — and is still failing to adequately support students with special needs — this use of public resources is hard to fathom.
This school year, a projected $426 million in public tax dollars will be sent to private schools through provincial per-student grant funding. B.C.’s private religious schools receive the greatest share of this money, followed by prep schools and schools with specific teaching approaches like Montessori. A smattering of special needs-focused private schools and independent First Nations schools also get public funding.
My focus is the public funding that flows to a subset of elite private schools that charge substantial tuition fees based largely on prestige and exclusivity. If the provincial government were to end taxpayer subsidies to these elite private schools, it could immediately redirect substantial funding to support special-needs students in public schools.
Private schools that charge sky-high tuition fees and still rake in public funding include: Shawnigan Lake School (tuition $27,200), St. George’s School for boys ($24,950), Stratford Hall ($23,050), St. Michaels University School ($22,980), West Point Grey Academy ($22,470), York House School ($22,400), Glenlyon Norfolk School ($22,045), Crofton House School for girls ($22,000), and the list could go on. These are just the “day school” tuition fees. For boarding students, the yearly cost can exceed $50,000.
If the public subsidy to elite private schools were eliminated, how many taxpayer dollars could be freed? For a conservative estimate, we can look at total funding to private schools classified as “Group 2” by the province like those above (meaning they can charge as much tuition and spend as much as they like). There are more complicated cases of Group 2 schools: one special-needs school and First Nations schools, for which I will assume public funding will be maintained, are excluded from my estimate of potential savings.
According to Ministry of Education figures, these elite private Group 2 schools received just over 10 per cent of total private school funding in the 2016-17 school year. Assuming they continue to receive approximately the same share of public funding, they will rake in about $43 million in provincial grants in 2018-19.
How big a difference could this funding make to special-needs students? The provincial government earmarked an estimated $509 million for special-needs funding in public schools this year. Adding $43 million to this total would represent a substantial boost of more than eight per cent.
We know that increased support for special-needs students is essential. The number of special-education teachers in B.C. declined almost 25 per cent between 2000 and 2016, and the ratio of special-needs students to special-education teachers has increased. Just two weeks into the current school year, parents of kids with disabilities had already reported nearly 100 incidents of these students being asked to stay home, sent home early or separated from their class, among other types of exclusion.
B.C. also needs to fix its flawed education funding formula, which often fails to ensure that funding earmarked for special-needs students is actually reaching them. Nor does it provide additional funding for students with learning disabilities.
Strikingly, public funding of elite private schools goes well beyond the provincial grants noted so far. Additionally, private schools benefit from a host of tax breaks. For example, part of private-school tuition can be claimed as a federal child-care tax credit based on the rather creative idea that recess and lunch in private schools represent a childcare service.
Private schools also receive a lucrative exemption from property taxes, which their lobby group estimates saves them millions of dollars annually. For example, according to B.C. property assessment data, the property at the publicly listed address for St. George’s School was worth more than $130 million in 2017. A property of that value would have owed more than $500,000 in property taxes if the non-profit rate were applied. But schools, including private schools, are exempt from property tax.
Elite private schools also take in millions of dollars in large donations annually, which are eligible for the charitable donations tax credit. St. George’s alone reports that it issued $13 million in donation tax receipts in 2016-17.
Not surprisingly, public funding for private schools is very unpopular. Polling shows that 63 per cent of British Columbians oppose funding secular private schools (and even more oppose funding religious private schools). Opposition to funding elite private schools in particular would likely be higher still.
Critics of defunding private schools say that ending the subsidies might lead to students reentering the public system, which would require increased funding for the public system that would offset any savings. This claim doesn’t hold water, especially when it comes to elite private schools because there are many provinces where private schools receive no government funding.
Those willing to pay $20,000 plus per year in private prep school tuition are unlikely to give up this lifestyle just because public subsidies are withdrawn. Moreover, because public subsidies represent a much smaller share of income for Group 2 schools, they could either be expected to absorb the loss or raise their tuitions without losing many students to the public system.
Therefore, defunding elite private schools would likely represent almost pure savings to the provincial government. And, those budgetary savings — tens of millions of dollars — should be invested immediately to support kids with special needs in our public schools, whom we have let down for far too long.
If the provincial government were to end taxpayer subsidies to ... elite private schools, it could immediately redirect substantial funding to support special-needs students in public schools. Alex Hemingway, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives Polling shows 63 per cent of British Columbians oppose funding secular private schools.