Trustees want B.C. to redirect funds from private schools – The Globe and Mail

As a provincially appointed adviser pores over the books of the Vancouver School Board, the financial woes of boards across the province have pushed another financial issue into the limelight: whether tax dollars should support private schools.

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If they want that type of education, they should have to pay for it.”— Julianne Doctor

At its annual meeting last week, the British Columbia School Trustees Association – the umbrella group for 60 boards in the province – passed a resolution asking the Ministry of Education to redirect funding from independent schools, other than band schools, to public education.

The resolution may not get much traction in Victoria, where the provincial ministry says the more than $200-million a year that goes to private and independent schools reflects democracy and parental choice.

But the motion will resonate with many teachers and parents, including Julianne Doctor, spokeswoman for the Vancouver School Board’s District Parent Advisory Council.

“Private schools should not get public school funding,” Ms. Doctor said in an interview. “They shouldn’t get tax dollars. … If parents choose to send their children to a private school, they anticipate that it’s going to cost them money. If they want that type of education, they should have to pay for it.”

The debate over public support for private schools has percolated for years and tends to flare up when tight government budgets squeeze board budgets, Fred Herfst, executive director of the Federation of Independent Schools Associations of B.C., said yesterday.

Eliminating public funding for private schools would mean that they would be forced to boost their tuition fees, driving some students out of the programs, he said. Other costs now covered by the private system – such as for land, buildings and the portion of educational programs – would have to be borne by the public sector, he added.

“They [public schools] would not only get the money, they would also get the cost of educating those students,” Mr. Herfst said. “So the net gain for them would actually be very little.”

In B.C., Catholic schools are considered

via www.theglobeandmail.com