Saturday, March 15, 2014

How Much, Exactly, Are We Giving To Private Schools?

OnlyTheMostFavouredNeedApply
SubsidiesForSomeVille


You ready for it?

Two hundred and fifty million dollars.

Every.

Single.

Year.

Crawford Kilian has the story in The Tyee. Here is his lede:

For more than 35 years, B.C. taxpayers have been subsidizing B.C.'s private schools (or "independent schools," as they prefer to call themselves). This has been a recurring sore point, especially when the public system seems chronically underfunded.

The subsidy has ironic roots. When he presided over the baby-boom growth of the schools in the 1950s and '60s, Socred premier W.A.C. Bennett refused to give a nickel to private schools. If the public system wasn't good enough for some parents, they could pay the whole cost of educating their kids. But when his son Bill became premier, he consolidated the Socred grip on power by providing provincial money to private schools in 1977.

It was outright vote-buying, but private-school parents stayed bought right through the 1980s. If a private school follows provincial curriculum and standards, it receives a subsidy based on the per-student funding going to the local public school district...



And don't give me that codswallop about how this takes 'pressure' off the public system.

Because if, instead of you and me, Christy Clark was actually paying the full cost of sending her kid to St. Georges we could use that money to help pay for the special ed teacher that our friend K. needs because she's working alone in a public school classroom that contains six kids with serious developmental and mental issues.

And, of course, K. and her principal don't get to decide who doesn't 'get in' to her classroom.

OK?


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Meanwhile, not-for-profit women's health clinics get nothing as the folks who send their kids to private school (and run private, for profit, medical clinics?) suddenly do their best to try and squeeze them out.

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7 comments:

Anonymous said...

SH: and then there's the shadow economy F word:

http://www.canadianfamily.ca/kids/baby/raising-hell/

Anonymous said...

Further actions of the BC Liberal government - fund private schools but defund community literacy programs!

Excerpts of communication -
"...
On March 5, 2014 members of Decoda Literacy Solutions staff and board met with the Minister of Education, Peter Fassbender, to discuss funding for community literacy coordination. As you know, the funding for this important work was reduced from $2.5 million to $1 million in the 2013/14 budget.

In addition, from our discussion with the Minister, we are under the impression that there is currently no funding for community literacy coordination in the 2014/15 budget. This is very disappointing, particularly given the Legislative Select Standing Committee on Finance recommendation to return funding to the $2.5 million level annually.
…."

There you have it - $250 million to private schools and $0 to community literacy. There is something wrong with this picture!

Hugh said...

At least make them buy carbon offsets, like all the public schools (and hospitals etc).

RossK said...

SH--

'Fundraising' by individual public schools indeed....Of course, as is made clear by the story, it's easily done in places like Cremeville...In less affluent districts...Not so much.

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Anon-Above--

An important story that I was not aware of.

Thanks for bringing it to our attention

_____

Hugh--

Ha!

(if only this were a laughing matter)

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Anonymous said...

What's really wrong with private schools...

Michael Gove criticises 'ridiculous' number of PM's Etonians

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-26587418

"Mr Cameron is himself an Old Etonian, as is chief of staff Ed Llewellyn and minister for government policy Oliver Letwin, among others."

"Among the other Old Etonians in Mr Cameron's inner circle are policy unit head Jo Johnson and Chancellor George Osborne's chief economic adviser, Rupert Harrison.

And the prestigious school has produced 19 prime ministers of Great Britain, one of Northern Ireland, and also educated the prime minister of Thailand."

Eton College - Wikipedia
1,300 pupils, aged between 13 and 18 years, all pupils live at the school, and is one of four such remaining single-sex boys' public schools in the United Kingdom.

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And where is the province's responsibility when a school goes broke - like Glenfir in Summerland?

Anonymous said...

Why doesn't anybody want to talk about the religious extremists that get this $250,000,000 per year education subsidy?

Socred premier W.A.C. Bennett refused to give a nickel to private schools. If the public system wasn't good enough for some parents, they could pay the whole cost of educating their kids.

But when his son Bill became premier, he consolidated the Socred grip on power by providing provincial money to private schools in 1977.

It was outright vote-buying.


Trinity Western University is just the tip of the religious iceberg creaming tax subsidies from our secular society.

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This is why the NDP let convicted stock cheat Bill Bennett's (not to be confused with STUPID Bill Bennett) school subsidies go on - The NDP have MASSIVE ethnic vote numbers and those voters want a piece of atheist pie too.

Anonymous said...

Go to this link:

http://www.fraserinstitute.org/research-news/news/display.aspx?id=21770

If you want to find out how much private schools help this nation.