Wednesday 20 March 2013

Are ALL Alberta kids a priority?

  Education is one of those things that is important to all Albertans. No matter who you are, it is one thing that every parent is concerned about. We are also extremely blessed that here in Alberta we have one of the best, world class education systems that anyone could dream of having. It's my opinion that one of the reasons that we have this world class system is the fact that we, in Alberta, enjoy a wide range of choices in what kind of education our kids can receive. We have Public schools, of which inside that system there are many choices in itself, with regular public school to the different faith based programs and speciality programs inside the public system. There is also a Catholic school system as well with its different programs that it offers as well. Home schooling is also an option that Alberta has for those who want to educate their kids themselves in the comfort of their homes, that also comes with a wide range of support for those home based programs. And yet another option out there in Alberta is the wide wide range of independent schools that can be found all over the province. It is this option of school that I would like to write about in this blog post.
Why do I want to write about this one option? Well it's because recently with all the talk in the province about budget short falls and where to cut funds the province has made it clear that the education of our kids is a priority for this government. The question is, if our kids are a priority, is cutting their funding for their education consistent with making them a priority? I would have to say no, it's not consistent with saying they are, but yet that is the case. Our government has made some cuts in the recent budget that targeted the independent school system only, in what I see as an unfair targeted cut. In order to address this we must first understand how the funding for these systems works, and let me say it can be quite complicated and there are many myths associated with the funding of independent schools.
  Let me start by saying that when it comes to educating our kids it is the parents’ fundamental right and duty to choose what kind of education and where their children receive that education. This is not something that is the responsibility of anyone other than the parent or guardian of the child. This is not just an opinion of a few but it is recognised as a fundamental Human Right.
 Parents are the ones responsible for raising their offspring and educating them is one of the many responsibilities that come with that duty. So should a parent so choose that their choice for their child's education is in an independent school, that is their right to do so, as would be the case if they wanted to have them educated in either the Public or the Catholic systems.
The thing with making that choice is it also comes with an additional cost that is incurred by the parent for making that choice, seeing as these independent schools do not receive full funding for the kids those schools. And this is where we start with Myth #1. When people, hear that independent schools receive funding some tend to believe it’s full funding and people then question why independent schools receive full funding. Well....They don't. They currently receive 70% of the educational cost for those kids enrolled in them. They also until recently received a 70% grant called the plant operation and maintenance grant. They also do receive some smaller grants for various reasons and this is where I won't pretend to know what they are all for,  what I do know is that the bulk of the money received from the government is in the 70%, but the bulk of the funding for these schools is payed for by the users of them.
 Let me be clear about the 70%,  it isn't 70% of the total funding that public and Catholic schools receive. It's 70% of what the province considers the educational cost, this does not include capital costs, like I said the building is paid for by the users of these schools not the tax payers.  I would also like you to keep in mind that these tax paying Albertans are also paying for all the public and Catholic schools that are build as well through their taxes.  There is  also  the fact that the school boards of these schools quite often are all done with volunteer labour in which the board members put in huge amounts of time, for free, to help the administration of these schools.

  You might ask why do they receive funding at all? Myth #2... Aren't those people who send their kids to private or independent schools rich? Why can't they pay for it themselves? That's a simple answer, they like everyone else pay taxes and equally deserve that their children also receive an education of their choosing as per their fundamental human right as parents. I would venture to say that the vast majority of parents that send their kids to these schools aren't super rich but in most cases they are just your average Albertans that for whatever reason have chosen these schools for their kids. Now I will acknowledge that there are a few schools in Alberta that are "elite" schools, and that the parents are very rich, but they are the exception rather than the rule when it comes to independent schools, yet so many people seem to think that this is the case for most private or independent schools.
So even with just average Albertans, implementing the basic, fundamental human right to pick the place of education for their kids many still ask why the need for independent schools? Well that touches on Myth #3, that independent schools are only for religious people. Now although many of Alberta's independent schools are of a religious base of every diverse faith out there, not all are faith based. As diverse as the options out there are for the kind of schools there is, so are the reasons why parents choose why they want their kids to attend these schools. These choices for most parents who do, are usually private and they need not explain what reasons they have. Personally I have heard a wide range of reasons from wanting specific religious instruction, not agreeing with some specific instruction being taught in a particular school, location
, and maybe also to move their child out of a situation of being bullied. They could also choose a school for students with learning challenges, or ones that offer alternative educational styles. Whatever the reason, they are the parent and they have the right to do what they feel is right for their kids. Being tax paying citizens as well they should also have availability to have their children's education funded as the others fine citizens of this great province do in the Catholic and public systems.
There is one more myth that I would like to touch on and that is the thought that defunding independent schools would save the public money. This is one myth that some politicians like to push in their attempts to limit a parents choice and the diversity that we as Canadians and Albertans hold as a fundamental value. They try to sell their idea by pushing the myth that it will save the public money but most experts will be quick to point out the truthful fact that defunding independent schools would in reality cost the province a fortune and I will explain why. Lets say that happened, by defunding or shutting down these schools all these students would be forced into the Catholic and Public systems in which these students would no longer just cost the province 70% of education cost and 0% of the capital cost but now would cost the tax payers of the province 100% of the educational cost PLUS 100% of the capital cost! New schools would have to be bought or built just to house the tens of thousands of students now filling these independent schools. Does that sound like saving the tax payers money? Right now the parents who send their kids to these schools are paying the bill for their school plus paying taxes which fund the public and catholic systems, so in reality they are paying twice for education.
That leads me back to the recent cuts by our government. As most people I've talked to in these schools have conveyed to me, in times of austerity all should have to carry the burden of cuts equally. The latest cuts that the Alberta government have put upon the independent schools was anywhere in between 8-10 %, a cut upon a system that already saves the tax payer money, a cut that doesn't share the burden because it does not hit the other school systems but only 

singles out independent schools. Recently I've talked to two different independent school principals one closer to city limits and one more rural. These two schools are facing huge budget shortfalls that the parents will have to make up or it will affect the programs the school runs. Please remember that these parents, who are already sacrificing their money to send these kids to these schools, and are already saving tax payers money by footing the capital costs for the schools are now being forced to dig deeper. Is this fair? Plus it raises the question, Is our current government serious about putting all the kids of this province as a priority? Does this current government really embrace the true meaning of embracing diversity? I think it does but with these cuts it's not showing it very well.