Funding to private schools increasing faster than public schools

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 02/12/2017 (2877 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Education dollars are scarcer than they’ve been since the 1990s, but provincial funding to private schools has been increasing at a much higher rate than operating grants to public schools.

Provincial government data show that from the 2012-13 school year to the 2015-16 year, the money paid in private school operating grants increased 11 per cent, compared with the total 6.2 per cent for the public system. Private school enrolment rose by only 1.6 per cent during that time, while public enrolment declined 0.1 per cent.

In the final year of that period, private funding went up 4.3 per cent, while the former NDP government gave the public system an increase of 1.9 per cent.

It’s not a policy decision of current Premier Brian Pallister — though he has the power to change it. The formula dates back to the days of former Conservative premier Gary Filmon and was continued by the NDP during its 17 years in power.

The most recent detailed figures available show that in the 2015-16 school year, Manitoba taxpayers provided almost $71.4 million to the private kindergarten-to-Grade 12 system.

Manitoba’s largest private school, Linden Christian School, gets more than $5 million a year from the province, which accounts for 57.2 per cent of its operating budget. Balmoral Hall School spends more than $31,000 a student, about 2.5 times the public school rate, yet so high are its tuition and other income that the $1.8 million the province provides annually covers only 13.8 per cent of Balmoral Hall’s budget. Both schools deferred to the Manitoba Federation of Independent Schools for comment. There are also small, faith-based private schools using public money for almost their entire budget.

There has been no change in the provincial funding for private schools since Filmon established it in the 1990s after a court challenge. The NDP didn’t touch it in 17 years, and so far, Tory Education Minister Ian Wishart has left it alone.

Each private school receives a per-student operating grant of 50 per cent of the per-student spending in the public school division in which it is located.

That means that if school trustees tap property taxpayers for extra operating money to overcome low support from the province, then that money automatically boosts the funding for the local private school — though the cash comes from the province.

On the other hand, private schools depend on how deeply public school trustees are willing to dip into taxpayers’ pockets — the range can be extraordinary, from $10,941 per student in Steinbach-based Hanover School Division to $15,944 in Altona-based Border Land S.D.

There is nothing equitable in the formula funding for private schools — the formula produces considerable, sometimes huge, dollar differences through geography and the decisions of public school trustees.

“It is well known there are weaknesses in the existing funding formula. We’ll have a closer look at this in advance of determining 2018/19 funding,” Wishart said. “However, it’s important to note that over the 2012/13 to 2015/16 period, funded public school enrolment declined (0.1 per cent) while independent schools increased by 1.6 per cent.”

The complex public school funding formula uses about three dozen categories in its calculations, and enrolment is only one of them. Private schools also receive $9,220 for each Level 2 special-needs student, and $20,515 for each Level 3 special-needs student, while public school divisions receive block funding, a lump sum, based on the level of their special needs requests in recent years.

“I’m shocked at the percentages,” Manitoba Teachers’ Society president Norm Gould said.

The public system must accept every child, regardless of the family income or any other circumstances, he pointed out.

“The minister of education has said he’s looking at revamping public school funding — private schools should also be on the table. Find something that’s fair and reasonable,” Gould said.

Manitoba Liberal Leader Dougald Lamont demanded that Wishart change the system immediately: “The minister of education needs to explain why it appears that private schools are getting preferential treatment from this Conservative government,” Lamont said.

The Manitoba School Boards Association declined to comment, while the NDP and the Manitoba Association of School Superintendents did not respond.

The vast majority of private schools draws well more than half of its operating budgets from public money. Alhijra Islamic School is at 99.7 per cent, Poplar Point Colony 98.9 per cent, Pine Creek School 98.5 per cent, Lakeside Christian School 93.2 per cent. The Montessori Learning Centre, at 4.3 per cent public support, has the lowest amount of public funding.

Some of Manitoba’s largest private schools have high tuition and other income hefty enough that millions of dollars in public support are a relatively small part of their budget. In some cases, they pay teachers the same as public school teachers, while having smaller classes and choosing which students they’ll accept. Some smaller schools charge little or no tuition, and pay their teachers much lower salaries.

St. John’s Ravenscourt is at $25,089 per student, second only to Balmoral Hall, but down at the bottom of the list are Pine Creek at $5,532 and Alhijra at $5,507.

This year, Manitoba public schools have 13.1 students for every certified educator in the school — Balmoral Hall has 7.9. But at the Montessori Learning Centre, it’s 1.3 students for every educator, and 6.2 at The Laureate. At the University of Winnipeg Collegiate, it’s 20.

There are also small unfunded independent schools in Manitoba, usually faith-based, which choose to accept no public funding.

Meanwhile, schools seeking funding must operate for three years and meet provincial criteria before first reciving grants. Private schools going through their three years of waiting include Gonzaga Middle School, Iqra Islamic School, Inspired Explorations Learning Community, and Nova Montessori Preschool.

 

nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca