The More You Know - Private vs Public School Funding in BC

If you're looking for someone to blame for the lack of public school funding, don't blame independent schools - they're actually reducing the cost of education in our province.

---- Updated Sept 6th with some additional thoughts and data. Updates are in red italics. ----

What I've noticed about articles discussing independent school funding is that they present total dollars or percentages without explaining how that money is calculated and allocated. This will definitely be something that is discussed again at the next provincial election, and the politicians and related lobby groups do the same thing - give big numbers without explanation.

Whatever the cause or issue, the group that is upset often make the "other side" sound bad by presenting only snippets of the overall picture. People will read articles like this News1130 article published in April and from the verbage of the article infer that independent schools are being given extra funds that wouldn't otherwise be spent. The National Observer wrote a similar article in May. The Tyee wrote a more balanced article, also in May, but the headline is leading and most people would get worked up just reading the first half-dozen paragraphs which give only one side of the story. CBC Radio One is planning a series throughout this week on their Early Edition and On the Coast segments - I'm interested to hear the discussion there.

The Other Side

Did you know that both public and independent schools receive funding based on attendance? Further, did you know that independent school funding is 50% (or 35% in the case of the "elite" schools) of what public schools receive? Did you know that families that send their kids to independent schools are saving the provincial government more than $300 million per year?

An example - if my daughter attends a public school, that school will receive 100% funding for her because she is there. If I then remove her from that public school and enroll her in private, the 100% is removed from the public school, and a 50% portion is instead given to the private school.

When I make that choice, are my taxes reduced? No. I still pay the same amount of taxes, even though my child is now only 50% funded for her schooling. I then pay the extra 50% directly to the school she attends to make up the difference.

Note: I am not saying we send our kids to independent schools as a service to the public. Our decision is completely based on wanting the best for our kids. 

Based on 2015 numbers from FISA (Federation of Independent School Associations - representing about 93% of the students enrolled in independent schools), there were over 80,000 students enrolled in FISA-registered independent schools. If all of those students were moved into the public school system, the provincial government would move the $300+ million paid to independent schools into the public system, PLUS they would have to come up with an ADDITIONAL $300+ million dollars to fund them in the public system, because they are currently only partially funded in the independent schools.

If someone is seeking more money for public schools, the answer is not to shut down private schools - that will only further strain the public resources.

When they (see News1130 article) talk about a 61% increase from 2004-2005, you have to also know that the FISA enrollment increased from 58,000 to 80,000 in that same time period - a 38% increase, just based on enrollment. Also, in 2006-07, the government introduced funding for Distributed Learning students - funding that was given to both public and private schools. Finally, each year there is a small increase in funding per student (between 1% and 4%, depending on the year) which is given to both public and private.

Yes, if you look strictly at total dollars, it has gone up by 61%, but the article makes it sound like an wholly unfair increase, when in fact it is an increase entirely due to enrollment numbers and annual inflation. A more representative number to present would be the amount of funding per student, which has had annual increases in the range of 1% to 4% per year, with the average being just over 2% annually. But that number is not inflammatory at all, so it doesn't get mentioned. And don’t forget - when $2 is given to a public student per the annual increase, independent students only get $1.

Edit: Some would say that independent schools should be allowed to exist, but should receive zero funding. The reason for the funding, as near as I can understand, is because the schools are still required to meet all the provincial curriculum and educational requirements. The teachers are still required to be trained according to the provincial standards. There are safety and security requirements that must be met. The province partially funds the schools so that they retain the right to regulate the schools and ensure that students will still be properly educated. Independent schools are regularly audited to ensure they align with provincial education standards.

Further, independent schools receive no funding for capital costs (land, buildings, furniture, equipment). The school my kids attend is currently undertaking a building project because our building is old and too small - no longer suitable for the number of students enrolling. While a public school would receive funding from the government to expand or build a new building, we - the parents of kids who attend the school - are funding 100% of the capital costs of the new building ourselves.

I don't want to say the "only" reason, but certainly one of the big reasons public school funding would go down while independent funding would go up is because more people are choosing to send their children to independent schools. Another contribution to the reduced funding, in Vancouver specifically, is of course tied to the real estate market where families with school age children cannot afford to live in the city and are moving elsewhere, hence school attendance drops, and funding drops with it. I haven't had time to research numbers to back this up, but I have heard that schools in Surrey and Langley are overflowing, while the schools in Vancouver are going through their struggles with reduced attendance.

Update: Here is a plot of public school enrollment for the Lower Mainland since 1992. You can see the trend for each city. Note that during the years from 2002 to 2016, there was an overall decrease in the number of students in the province - more on that below.

The graph above comes from the following raw data that I collected from DataBC - Student Headcount by Grade. 

A few things I find interesting about the data:

• Enrollment increased across the board up to 2002, with independent schools increasing by a much greater margin than the provincial trend.
• From 2002 until now, there has been an overall decrease in the number of students enrolled in the province (and the lower mainland). This I was not expecting.
• During those years of decreasing enrollment, independent schools have continued to increase
• Also during those years of decrease, Western Lower Mainland communities have seen greater decreases than the overall trend, while Eastern communities have seen increases (or at least less of a decrease). This correlates to the real estate argument above and helps answer the question about reduced funding for public schools in Vancouver specifically.

Note 1: I did not break down the independent school data by the same districts because they don't tag the data the same way - I'd have to manually go through all of the independent schools to assign them a city, and that would take a long time. So for now, the independent school data is provincial totals only.

Note 2: The data in this table is "standard, brick and mortar" schools. It does not include adult education, distance learning, or other categories. If you note the discrepancy between my noted independent school totals (72,000 in the table, and 80,000 stated above), that's where it comes from.

Maybe the BCTF and others who instigate these articles should be asking "why are so many people choosing to leave free public education?" An almost 40% increase in 10 years? They try to sell the "elite" schools factor - talking about Christy Clark's kids, or other wealthy individuals - but according to the numbers, only 18% of the enrollment in FISA schools are Group 2 schools where they charge a premium. The other 82% of independent schools are Group 1 schools with operating expenses at or below the level of public schools.

The independent school that our kids attend is not full of wealthy, elite families - sure, some live comfortably, but others are also average or even lower income - a little different than a public school, but not that much. So if it is not an elitist thing, then why are people leaving public and taking up independent schooling for their kids? I believe this is one of the issues that CBC is hoping to explore in their programming this week, so I'm interested to hear the discussion.

Anyway, those are some thoughts/facts that “the other side” should be aware of, and what I believe are the correct questions to be asking.

Thank you for reading.

Footnote: While I do volunteer at my kids’ independent school, the thoughts here have come from my own reading and interpretation of the data. I do not represent FISA or any of the independent schools in writing this. If something has been interpreted or calculated incorrectly, that is my fault alone.

Five and a Half Years Later...

Blogs are different for everyone. For some, they are a day-to-day journal of life. Others use it as a scrapbook highlighting important events in their lives ... or maybe their kids ... or their pet chameleon. Me? Well, I haven't posted a single thing since life got overhauled 5-1/2 years ago (new company, married, and since then a couple kids have joined us as well). I'm surprised they haven't shut me down for negligence.

The thing is, I really do WANT to post to my blog, I just forget all the time. I have a hard enough time talking on a regular basis with those close to me; how can I be expected to write something meaningful for the random people who might [however unlikely] stumble across this random blog?

Well, I guess we'll soon see if either of the people who used to read this are still out there. I'm going back to blogging, still infrequently, but this truly is the easiest way for me to communicate my thoughts on topics that go beyond a Facebook status.

People who know me, know that I tend to write lots, especially in emails. Once words start flowing, I have trouble stopping them, and I definitely spend time trying to make sure thoughts are complete. The thing is, I'm not like this conversationally. If you talk to me in person, [in my opinion] I don't think I'm very good at keeping up my side of the conversation. And if things get serious, if the topic becomes important, I get even worse. I want to say the right things, but I end up stumbling over myself and stringing things together poorly ... or not at all. I even have this problem when I go see the doctor - in the moment, I forget half of the symptoms I went to see him for! Seriously, its a problem.

But I digress... (see? lots of words)

This particular post has been on my mind for a long time. I've been feeling compelled to share my experiences and feelings about a polarizing topic. I also feel like the outcome of our experience is something I must share.

I want to talk about the pregnancy and birth of our second daughter Amelia.

Some background: Another thing some people know about me is that I'm a Christian ... or perhaps that I go to church ... or maybe that I'm "religious" ... actually, a lot of people in certain spheres of my life don't know any of that about me, which I'm a bit ashamed about. So, to be crystal clear on how I define myself - I am a Christian. I realize though that this is a very nebulous thing. There are a lot of people who say they are Christians (60% of Canadians, apparently), yet I suspect, for some, Christ has very little to do with their life. This was me for a number of years - I checked the "Christian" box on Facebook, went to church periodically, but day to day there was very little about me that would cause anyone to suspect I was a Christian unless I said it. Well, God, by his grace, has been working on me these last few years, changing me bit by bit. I know I'll never be perfect, at least not hear on Earth, but I have a desire to follow God and I am thankful for the work he continues to do on me.

So, about Amelia - I believe God had his hand on her, perhaps even worked a miracle, and it would not be right for me to let that go without sharing it. She's 19 months old now, so I'm slow in doing it, but it still needs sharing.

The situation: During the pregnancy, when we had our 20-week ultrasound (Jan 7, 2011), they found a "problem" - you know, the one where the test seems to be taking a really long time, and then the tech leaves and gets a doctor, and together they look and ponder ... and tell us nothing the whole time. Yeah, that test. Well, they called us back for a meeting with one of their doctors who finally told us there was an "anomaly" - horrible word if you are expecting. Specifically, there was a density ringing her bowel. They wanted some specialists to review it, and there would be another meeting.

The next week (Jan 13) we went back to BC Women's to meet the specialists. This was a team of a few doctors who had reviewed the ultrasounds. They felt there was a few possible causes - a bowel blockage requiring surgery, infection, down syndrome, cystic fibrosis, other chromosome anomalies, or a few really unpleasant (ie. fatal) things. They were very clear that "its nothing" was not an option [in their opinions]. It was scary, sad, stressful, a lot of emotions all rolled up into one meeting - and it led to a very busy month ... and a lot of prayer.

Both of us had DNA tests to rule out cystic fibrosis (if neither parent is a carrier, then they can rule it out), and Nic had blood tests to rule out some infections. There was more testing they could do on the baby, but the risk of introducing a new problem via the testing was about the same as the original risk of the problems existing in the first place. The math didn't seem to work, so we opted for no more tests.

They also presented the option of abortion, but said we had to decide quickly on that. They could only abort within the first 24 weeks, which in itself [apparently] was a special extension due to health concerns. I'm not up to speed on the intricacies of abortion law, but whatever the case, neither of us considered this an option. More on that later...

Now, we waited - for test results, more meetings, and more ultrasounds. And we prayed ... and we got friends, family and other Christians praying. Through it all, we were miraculously at peace - not off in "La La Land" (as it were), but we were okay with not knowing what the outcome would be and were prepared to accept whatever happened.

In mid-February, we had a boost of cautious optimism. We went for another ultrasound and the technician could not find the problem. This did not mean it was gone - a doctor came and assisted again, but told us that these problems can be hidden. We were excited to hear the news, but at the same time did not get our hopes up too high because there was still lots of pregnancy to go.

Sure enough, we had another ultrasound in early April which showed the density was visible again and then another one later in April which was not as well defined. So ... we did not have definitive answers, but knew that in a few weeks time the baby would be born and we would find out what exactly was going on.

On May 24, we made our way to BC Women's Hospital because Nic was in labour. A few hours later, our baby girl was born. Her entrance into the world was not ideal - it took a LONG time for start breathing/crying on her own, and when she did, there was some weird coughing involved. It was a bit tense as the pediatricians looked her over - because of the coughing and because of the ultrasounds - but they couldn't find any problems. They kept us an extra night, just to make sure there was no lingering issues that weren't immediately obvious, then sent us home.

Today, Amelia is a happy and completely healthy little girl. Aside from a bit of eczema, she has not had a single health issue (except for the normal colds or what not). She is the happiest little girl, full of personality. She walks around our house singing and laughing and brings a lot of joy to our lives.

On the back of Amelia's birth announcement we put the Bible verse 1 Samuel 1:27, which says "I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him." (NIV). The context of the verse is Samuel's mother Hannah speaking - she had been unable to have children, but now had been blessed with a son. In our case, we were told our child would have health problems, we just didn't know yet what they would be. The fact that she was born with a clean bill of health and to this day has had no problems - I believe that is a miracle, and that God's hand worked in our situation to give us a healthy daughter.

I also believe that God allows times of difficulty - "trials" if you will - into our lives so that he can reveal himself to us and to the world. This is a whole separate (and HUGE) topic which I won't discuss at length here, but I do think I would do a disservice if I didn't share how God walked through this with us. He revealed himself to us, and it is our job to share that with the world - hence this blog post. Throughout the pregnancy, among all the questions and emotions, God gave us peace. We were able to trust that he was in control, and he gave us the strength and peace to go through it. That doesn't mean there was no times of emotion or concern, I think those are natural as humans, it just means that he helped us through it. And at the end of it all, we were blessed with a beautiful girl with a clean bill of health - something that we were not necessarily expecting, but are very grateful for.

Since it came up along the journey, I need to also insert a couple of thoughts on abortion. For my wife and I, our choice was that abortion was not an option. If our baby had been born with health problems, we would deal with those when they came - who knows, we might yet have to do that with one of our kids. But I wonder - how many people in our situation, faced with the "potential" of health problems with their baby would have elected to have an abortion? We personally know at least one woman who chose abortion simply on the chance of a health problem with her baby. How many others are like her? And of those, how many would have been perfectly healthy as Amelia is? Obviously I don't know the answer to that question from a statistical point of view, but it does make me wonder.

I realize abortion is a touchy subject, especially when you are a Christian bringing it up. A lot of people have spoken on the topic on behalf of Christians, but missed the mark in terms of a Christian response (some, in my opinion, have been down-right nuts). It frustrates me sometimes that the voice of the "Religious Right" (I mean, the loud and visible American version) is the voice associated with all Christians.

... I'm getting off topic.

I read an article that makes a really good point: 

"The term “pro-life” should be a shorthand for respect for the sanctity of life. But I will not let that label apply to people for whom sanctity for life begins at conception and ends at birth. What about the rest of life? Respect for the sanctity of life, if you believe that it begins at conception, cannot end at birth." (Thomas Friedman, NY Times)

That, in a nutshell, is my overarching view on the matter. I don't believe you can simply say you are opposed to abortion, then not care what happens once that baby is born. For example, if a mother was going to have an abortion because she cannot care for a child, then I believe it is our job to help her provide that care. We cannot say "don't have an abortion" then leave it at that. 1 John 3:17-18 says "If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth." (NIV). I know its a much bigger topic than what I've said, and I don't mean to trivialize it down to one example. There are lots of facets to the discussion, and some much harder questions to ponder than just health of the baby. I just wanted to make my general point of view clear.

Since I'm on the topic, I also wonder about abortion from a non-religious standpoint - thinking purely as a father whose brain works mostly scientifically. Having now been through two pregnancies with my wife, I don't understand how "life" is defined as related to abortions. With our first pregnancy, we had an ultrasound at 6 weeks to confirm the presence of a fetus (there were some initial concerns that maybe it had been lost). At 6 weeks already, we were able to see the heartbeat on the screen. Doesn't a heartbeat define that something is alive? Or what about brain activity? I have no idea what fetal brain activity looks like from a measurement stand-point, but I do know that both of my daughters started responding to my voice, in the womb, at about 16-18 weeks. I could lean over Nic's belly and talk, and there would be kicks or punches in response. If heartbeat isn't enough, does brain activity and response to stimulus not define something is alive? Even when the doctors told us we could have an abortion up to 24 weeks, I was a bit baffled. I know a couple who had a baby at 21-22 weeks - it was an incredible struggle with lots of work required, but that baby is alive and well and somewhere around 7 years old today. If a baby can live after only 21-22 weeks, how can an abortion happen up to 24 weeks?

These are just a bunch of thoughts that have been on my mind after going through two pregnancies and being blessed with two beautiful little girls, one of whom, for a different couple, might have been aborted. I have no delusions of resolving the debate on my tiny little blog. My hope, if anything, is that our experience might cause someone to pause and think longer about their choices in pregnancy, maybe even change the choice they would have made. I also hope that Christians (in fact, the whole right wing) will start to re-think their views on "Pro Life" and start meaning that regarding more than just pregnancy.

I thank God every day for Amelia and the fact that she is a healthy, smiling, joy-filled part of our lives. Life without her would not be the same.

New Paths

Okay, here is the promised update. I guess it won't be a total marathon, but it will catch you up on the recent happenings in my life. It has been crazy busy, but only really because of two things - work, and wedding prep.

The most important thing of course is the wedding. I think we're almost ready for this! Our venues are booked, invitations were sent out (actually, still a couple more to send) with most RSVPs received, license is in place, the wedding bands are bought - to be delivered in a couple weeks, the dress is bought and "final fitted", bridesmaids dresses are made (I think), tuxes are reserved, flower orders are in place, rentals are arranged, musicians are in progress, the preacher ... well, he comes included by default. The only really big ticket item still to be booked is the honeymoon. We want to go somewhere sunny, but book last minute to save a few bucks. We'll likely end up going to DR or something. Take a look at our website if you want to know more about the wedding - like my blog, it is also in need of an update, but there's no sense putting all the info in two places. (dead link removed)

The really big, most recent news though is a career change for me. I've now officially given notice at my current job, so its not a secret anymore. Before I worked for Honeywell, I worked at Bombardier on the Skytrain Millennium Line project in Vancouver. In January, a colleague from that project sent me an email titled "Where are you and what are you doing?" He had been hired by SNC-Lavalin to be the lead manager for all the systems installations on the Canada Line (nee RAV Line). In English, that means all of the civil work (ie. concrete) is nearing completion, and it is his job to fill that empty box with a train system. SNC-Lavalin does all the engineering design, and he takes that design and turns it into reality. As an aside, the Canada Line is a new transit system similar to Skytrain that will run from Richmond and the Vancouver airport to downtown Vancouver.

Why he was contacting me was, he wanted me to join his team on the project. He was planning to hire a few guys (around 15 or so) to work as full-time consultants on a project management team, with each person responsible for different areas of the project. As a team, our job would be to hire the subcontractors and other resources necessary to get the SNC design built, and get a fully functioning rail transit system installed and tested by the end of 2009.

Those next couple of months flew by. I was definitely interested in this kind of work, so he went ahead and got approval to hire me. Once that was through, I set out to form my consulting company, hiring a law firm to do my incorporation with the province. Once that was done, we sat down and signed the contract. I'll spare you the other details, but where we are right now is I own my own company (Trenic Consulting Inc. - http://www.trenic.ca - oh look, another site I need to update), and I have signed a contract to begin work on the Canada Line on June 11. I still need to hire an accountant to help me figure out business taxes, but that is in the works.

The most stressful part of all of this though was giving notice at Honeywell. You know, I have honestly enjoyed that job too. The work load has sometimes been a bit overwhelming, but the group of guys I worked with there were fantastic. I definitely count them as friends, not just co-workers. A few of us, including my bosses, play hockey together, another one I worked out with (past tense because I've been too busy to get out lately), and the rest we just got along well and did social stuff together once in a while. I've never actually quit a job before, it's always been co-op jobs, or a big project that had a fairly well defined finishing date. It was really hard to give notice at Honeywell, but I did it, and my bosses were professional about the whole thing, even if a little surprised. I hope I will still get to play hockey with those guys, and keep in touch with them. My last day at Honeywell will be May 18.

As you can see, the timing of all of this is working out really well. Last day at Honeywell on May 18, a week off to do last minute prep for the wedding, then two weeks off after the wedding to go on a honeymoon and relax on a beach somewhere, then June 11, start into a new job. It will be so nice too, to come back from a vacation and not come in to find 400 new emails and 30 voicemails waiting for you. I'll be starting with a clean slate!!

New job, new wife ... new LIFE! These are exciting days.

Slowed to a Crawl

Right, so "Occasional" turned into Semi-Occasional, and now has gone on to Random, if not Rare Perambulations - and this is only my fourth post!

Let me tell you though ... there is news building on many fronts, I'm just not quite ready to go public with it yet. Give me a week or two, and you will get a marathon update - after that, posting shall resume at its Occasional pace.

In the mean time, here is a recent photo. Well, that's one of my updates - I grew hair again.

Walking Together

So when I titled this blog "Occasional Perambulations", I did actually intend to post occasionally. I guess I can be forgiven though as all three of my readers will understand the busy pre-Christmas season. That, and things have been (and still are) a little busy at work as I try to complete a fairly big R&D project that is way overdue. The Christmas season was a great chance to get away though, and I am thankful for the break to spend time with family and friends.


The other thing that has kept me very busy through the month of December was some plotting and planning for one of the most important and best phases of my life.


A lot of people have never met my girlfriend Nicolene, and she hasn't been a subject on this blog yet (okay, so I've only posted twice, actually once if you count my first post as a test).


This is Nicolene (or Nic, or Nicky, but she doesn't really care for Nicky very much).


Nic and I met [officially] for the first time on Dec 31, 2005. I say "officially", because a long time before that, I saw this girl a few pews over at church one Sunday, and she made an impression on me. I always remembered seeing her, and months and months later, I met her at a New Year party in Victoria.


I had travelled to Victoria to ring in the New Year with my friends Julia and Janine (and their guests). One of Janine's guests was her sister Nicolene. We hit it off almost right away at the party, spent a lot of time together on the 1st, then since it "just made sense" (yeah, excuses excuses), travelled back to Vancouver together on the 2nd. That was the day we declared as the day we officially were a couple, and things went quickly from there.


On the 4th of January (our third day officially together, fifth day since we met - although it felt like far longer since we spent every waking moment together), Nic took me to a World Junior game at GM Place, then afterwards, we went to Malone's for a beer and had a really awesome conversation about life, our beliefs, goals, dreams ... my chest honestly felt like it would burst as we talked because I was so excited. I looked across the table and asked her if it would totally freak her out if I said I loved her, and she said "Not at all, I totally feel the same way!" From Malone's we went for a walk. It was pouring rain, but that didn't matter. We walked around downtown in the rain, stopping to kiss on the street corners, and eventually finding our way to her car where we just sat and talked until 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning until we finally went our seperate ways to our homes.


For weeks we spent every day together, and we were totally in love right from the start. All of our friends and family knew it too, and commented amongst themselves that we were done, off the market, hooked.


Well, it was exactly one year ago yesterday that Nic and I got together. We've had an awesome year together - too many good times to list - but by far the highlight came on Friday before the Christmas holiday.


Yup, that's right, on December 22, 2006, I asked Nicolene to marry me, and she said "YES!"


I am excited to see what the future holds for us, and I can't wait to be married to her. Only 5 months to wait, and those months will go quickly as we plan our wedding together.

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

I think this little one was hoping I was bringing food. Brrr. Poor little thing.

So, who is it that keeps talking about global warming anyway? I'm thinking that person should really double check their data, or at least review the definition of "global". -5 here yesterday, -8 today (that's 23 and 17 respectively for my American friends).

I'm not complaining, I love the snow - it reminds me of the carefree days of my childhood in Salmon Arm. Its the one thing I really miss about winter now that I live in Vancouver. Thankfully, I fell awkwardly into the end boards at hockey Sunday night, so the most exercise my knee could handle was a leisurely stroll through the woods on my lunch break yesterday.

Although colder today, the sun is shining brightly, and that makes the North Shore mountains look utterly spectacular. Despite the cold, my drive in this morning across the Second Narrows bridge was nothing short of awe-inspiring. Pure white mountains surrounded by the bluest sky. I wished I had my camera.

I didn't bring it to work with me today though, so you are left with my photos from my walk yesterday. Its just so peaceful out here. The city noise is deadened, and the hotheads are cooled off. People seem to be friendlier and more patient with this weather around them. I love it.

Occasional Perambulations

My first post - I fear it will be a disappointment. You see, I'm working on a big project at work these days, so I don't have much time for ... well, much of anything. I was just having a little dinner break here at my desk and decided to get a blog organized - something I've been meaning to do for some time now.

And thus the unscheduled tour of my thoughts and my life - "Occasional Perambulations" - stumbles out of the blocks into the information world.