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Good schools are for the rich. Bad schools are for the, well, you know. While we love to think that public education is the great equalizer — and it can be — we need to ask ourselves honestly: is it?
One of Calgary’s best schools is Elbow Park. But this public school is only accessible if you can afford to live in one of the city’s premier neighbourhoods. The average family income at this public school is $600,000 — triple the average income at Calgary’s elite independent schools.
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Twenty-four minutes away is Falconridge School. The average annual income there is around $43,000. English is most Falconridge students’ second language, whereas ESL students comprise only seven per cent of students at Elbow Park. Low-income Falconridge has 19 students who fail their provincial achievement test for every one that fails at high-income Elbow Park. We could dive into the scores for each subject, class size and many other metrics, but you already know which school will come out on top each time — and by a considerable margin.
School choice exists for those who can afford it. And, no, we’re not talking about tuition for top-tier independent education. We’re talking about real estate. Housing prices correlate closely with the best “free” schools.
Public schools may be melting pots, but postal codes effectively filter out socioeconomic diversity. Kids’ classmates are their neighbours, the folks who can afford to live there or can’t afford to move out.
Surely school choice by postal code is not in the best interest of kids — nor our social cohesion.
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On paper, there are about a dozen different school systems in Alberta. In reality, these options are not readily accessible to those who need them most. Francophone schools give preference to francophones and Catholic schools prefer, well, Catholics. Alternative programs tend to cost around $3,000 a year. Charter schools typically have long wait lists. Furthermore, boards such as the CBE are cracking down on “school choice” even within the public system, narrowing the number of families that can access alternatives.
Rather than giving everyone a fair shot at life — the noble vision of public education — the current system unintentionally disadvantages the already disadvantaged. So, what’s the solution?
Make more funding available for more types of schooling, including independent schools. It is hard to find an independent school in Calgary that doesn’t have a wait list. Yet, few are able to expand because of limited resources and regulations.
A robust, fully funded independent sector would spur failing schools to improve and, more importantly, provide parents with affordable options. A good education is a key factor in social mobilization. Empowering parents to offer that to their children is an underappreciated possibility of educational pluralism. Dozens of recent studies have explored the competitive effects of independent schools and the evidence is overwhelming: Taxpayer-funded independent education improves public schools. It also closes the gap between rich and poor.
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Globally, wherever independent schools receive greater proportions of public funding, we see socioeconomic disparities between government and non-government schools disappear. Where there is a greater quantity and variety of fully taxpayer-funded, non-government-managed K–12 options, there are narrower differences between advantaged and disadvantaged populations.
In Sweden, Finland and the Netherlands, taxpayers fund more than 95 per cent of independent schools’ total costs. Similarly, in Denmark, the United Kingdom and South Korea, independent schools’ capital costs (e.g., buildings and equipment) are taxpayer-funded. Alberta only covers 70 per cent of operating costs.
Why do your taxes pay for the education of your neighbours’ kids? We all know that their education — or lack thereof — profoundly affects everyone. So, why don’t we allow more funding for more types of schooling, giving more students a chance to attend the school where they will learn best?
Good education is in the public interest. It makes sense for public funds for education to flow to where all of us will reap the greatest return on investment.
Catharine Kavanagh is Alberta liaison officer and David Hunt is education program director at public policy think-tank Cardus.
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