FPinfomart.ca

Soaring school budgets don't add
up
The Gazette (Montreal)
Sat 26 Feb 2005

Page: A31
Section: Editorial / Op-ed
Byline: HENRY AUBIN

Column: Henry Aubin
Source: The Gazette

Everyone complains about soaring health costs, but if
you really want to see some wild spending, look at public schools.

In the last eight years, the number of students in Quebec public schools
has declined by 3.8 per cent, according to a report by the C.D. Howe Institute.
You'd think the costs of running the schools would reflect that. On the
contrary, costs have gone up almost 13 per cent, says the report, and that's
adjusting for inflation.

It's easy to grasp why spending is increasing in the health system: The
population is aging, so more people need care and hospitals and doctors'
offices are jammed. But it is illogical that running an education system with
fewer and fewer students is more and more expensive.

How to explain the paradox?

The first suspect that might spring to mind is labour costs. After all, as
their recent threat to go on strike reminds us, teachers often put pressure on
the public purse. But, in fact, teachers make terrible scapegoats. Their pay
hikes over the past eight years have been below the inflation rate.

Nor does the phenomenon arise from problems that are specific to Quebec.
The C.D. Howe report by economist Yvan Guillemette
shows spending per student in Quebec over this same 1996-2004 period has
increased by 17 per cent (adjusting for inflation). Yet, as the table shows,
seven provinces have even less economical records.

So, what's the problem?

When you put the question to Quebec education ministry officials, school
board administrators and union leaders, they agree on the main points.

First, they note just because there are two or three fewer pupils in a
class doesn't mean you can get rid of the teacher and stop heating the room.

Second, even when the drop in students is so sharp as to justify closing
the school, it can be politically difficult to do so. Witness the petitions
and delays every time this happens in Montreal. In rural regions, it's even
harder. It's not just the sacrosanct status of the ecole du village; it can
also be the problem of bussing children 50 kilometres every day.

Third, the high-priced campaign to put large numbers of computers in every
school, started many years ago, was no one-shot investment. The machines need
frequent replacement.

Fourth, many aging schools need ambitious repairs - new roofs, heating
systems, so on.

But perhaps the single most important factor is that schools are giving
more help to special-needs students - that is, those with physical
disabilities, learning disorders or behavioural problems. Quebec's policy is
to integrate many students with disabilities into mainstream classes, but
these students still need extra attention. The cost of extra child-care
workers and resource teachers quickly adds up.

The C.D.
Howe study also found another interesting
trend. After looking at standardized-test scores in each province, it
discovered no positive correlation exists between increased per-pupil spending
and improvement in student achievement. Your skepticism confirmed: More money
does not produce better education.

Yet nowhere is it written in marble that the schools' global costs must
always rise sharply.

One province has defied that trend significantly: Ontario. Its spending
during the eight years rose by a meagre 4.1 per cent - and it did this despite
an impressive 3.9-per-cent rise in enrollment (thanks to immigration).

Ontario avoided doing what most provinces do which - to oversimplify - is
for the government to look at each school board's budget for the past year and
then slap on a certain percentage increase to cover inflation and other
extras.

Ontario education officials told me yesterday their province gives money to
each school board on the basis of enrolment. If a board's number of students
dwindles, its funding drops. I'm not used to saying nice things about
Ontario's former Harris government, but it's the one that devised this thrifty
innovation in 1995. (In case you're wondering, Ontario also integrates many
disabled students into regular classes.)

Oh, one last thing. The study shows the province whose students improved
most on standardized tests were in - you guessed it - Ontario.

If Quebec's new education minister, Jean-Marc Fournier, wants ideas on how
to cut rising taxes, he knows where to look.

[email-masked]

The number of students might be falling, but public school expenses are
soaring

Per cent change from 1996-97 to 2004-05

Province Enrollment Total spending Spending per pupil

Alberta 0.8% 32.9% 31.9%

B.C. -3.9% 14.8% 19.5%

Manitoba -4.1% 16.8% 21.9%

N.B. -13% -4.8% 9.3%

Nfld. -25.7% -7.9% 23.9%

Nova Scotia -11.4% 4.9% 18.4%

Ontario 3.9% 4.1% 0.2%

P.E.I. -8.5% 34% 46.4%

Quebec -3.8% 12.9% 17.3%

Sask. -12% 13.8% 29.3%

Canada -1.6% 11.3% 13.1%

Note: All spending figures use dollars adjusted for inflation.

SOURCE: C.D. howe institute

Edition: Final
Story Type: Column
Length:
784 words