The perils of outsourcing education

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 27/04/2024 (812 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Budgets are a reflection of our values. What we choose to spend our money on (or not) tells us about our priorities.

So, what does it say when the most recent provincial budget says so little about public education?

Surely, there are some welcome, yet modest, increases to education funding. Also, because education does not exist in a vacuum, we recognize that the proper funding of other services, such as health, transit, child welfare, libraries, recreation, and so on, can positively impact students.

However, we must not lose sight of the necessity of a robustly funded education system — without which, school systems can be compelled to seek alternate, often private sources of funding.

One response to underfunding is the appeal of Private-Public Partnerships, or P3s, in which the cost of major capital expenses are shared between public and private institutions. The government has signalled that they will be distancing themselves from P3 approaches to building new schools — a move which we applaud.

In many cases, the construction of schools using P3s is more expensive in the long run than building schools through public financing, as auditors-general found in both Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. While the allure of P3s and their purported reduced expenses are tempting, the results increase costs and are not in the interest of the public good.

When public schools are underfunded, school boards might find alternative funding through more insidious means. For example, in October 2022, the Free Press reported that schools in Winnipeg receive $3 million in donations from the Schroeder Foundation annually. At the same time, Walter Schroeder was contributing to the election campaigns of select Winnipeg School Division trustee candidates, signalling his desire to increase his influence on the affairs of the division. It is a slippery slope between what might be considered a benevolent donation and a concerted attempt to hold power and influence in a public institution — one that is to be governed by public interests, not private ones.

This appeared to be on the minds of trustees at the March 18, 2024 WSD board meeting, where some trustees asked for greater transparency about private funders and their actions.

Additionally, there is ongoing outsourcing to private organizations of work that should be done by the government department itself. This outsourcing to private organizations or consultants varies. For instance, IBM was contracted in 2022 to prepare a report on remote learning in the province. In 2023, the Enriched Academy was hired to deliver financial literacy curriculum and the Learning Bar was contracted to provide assessment tools. Outsourcing channels public money to private, often for-profit organizations. It can also mean that those hired to do the work may not have a strong sense of the local context and needs (seeing as they are often not located in Manitoba). The government loses oversight of what gets developed and implemented, and the government is not drawing on — nor developing the capacity of — their own department (which should be filled with teachers and other experts) to do this work.

Importantly, the $10 million allocated to private schools in the recent budget is another form of outsourcing that creates inequities and undermines the public system. In all of these examples, outsourcing undermines funding to and capacity in the public system.

The use of P3s, private donors, and outsourcing to support public education might be argued as being more convenient and efficient, or even, innocuous. If schools are strapped for cash, and someone else is willing to foot the bill, then these options might seem like an easy, common-sense solution.

However, public education requires that the system is not only publicly funded but also publicly governed, meaning that those who are elected and represent the public have the responsibility to make transparent decisions in the name of the common good. Relying on — or being forced to comply with — outside organizations undermines our collective responsibility for education, and challenges the very structure and purpose of public education.

As any teacher will tell their students, what is easy is not always what is right.

When it comes to supporting public education, we need to continue to demand robust public funding so that school divisions are not reliant on private donors or outside agencies. In the meantime, as citizens, we need to be made aware of school divisions’ donors and their donations, as well as the extent of outsourcing of responsibilities to private agencies and the strings that may be attached.

Ellen Bees and Melanie Janzen are members of People for Public Education.