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Parents and Businesses Pick Up the Tab of 'Publicly Funded' Schools: Survey

Posted on: Thursday, 14 July 2005, 21:00 CDT

OTTAWA (CP) - Schools across Canada are increasingly reliant on outside revenues to pay for what is supposed to be publicly funded education, says a new study.

That could have big consequences for the equity and quality of a school system that forms a cornerstone of our democratic society, according to the president of the Canadian Teachers' Federation.

"Public education serves a public good but there's been a real shift in the last 20 years in all sorts of things," Terry Price said in an interview from Saskatoon, where the federation was holding its annual general meeting Thursday.

"What used to be a cornerstone of democracy is now looked at as something necessary for an individual's success . . . and therefore the people who should pay for it are the users."

A survey of 3,100 schools by the federation this past school year found that, through fundraising alone, each raised an average of $15,700 - not including commercial advertising, exclusive marketing deals and other corporate arrangements.

That's at least $46 million that various levels of government didn't have to spend educating Canada's youth.

And it represents but a fraction of the real figure, considering only 21 per cent of the 14,500 public schools approached actually responded to the survey.

Commercial revenues from things like sponsorships and advertising aren't even included in the $15,700, said Price.

"That average is (from) your chocolate bar sales, your Scholastic book sales, your Christmas wrap sales. It also doesn't take into account user fees - which are supposedly illegal."

The study, the first of its kind in Canada, confirmed anecdotal evidence that teachers and parents have been sharing for years.

More than half the high schools in the survey reported advertising in or on the buildings, and 56 per cent of secondary schools had exclusive marketing agreements with Coke or Pepsi.

Other findings included:

-67 per cent of all schools charge user fees for school trips.

-49 per cent of all schools, and 60 per cent of elementary schools, fundraise for library books.

-64 per cent of elementary schools reported promoting Scholastic books.

-30 per cent of all schools had incentive programs to urge students, teachers and parents to buy a specific company's products.

As the cost of schooling is shifted away from the public purse, Price said, there is a "significant risk" that education will become just another commodity that wealthy communities can afford to do well while others fall behind.

But it will take more than a teachers' union - which Price notes is "so often branded as a self-interest group" - to change public policy.

She believes parents are already onside, having heard the stories: "Whoa! I didn't sign on to a school council to fundraise so we could repair the wiring or the roof of our school."

The survey helps provide a baseline of information to quantify the size of the issue, but it will take pressure on budget makers to get action.

"Unfortunately, the power base in this country is of an age where they don't have kids in the (school) system anymore," said Price.

"They don't see the cost that is downloaded to the individual family."

Source: Canadian Press

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