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.