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| March 2002 Newsletter | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| QUICK
FACTS
In 2000/2001, the Ministry of Learning expended just over $7,000 per student for basic education. 25,000 students in private schools, at a rate of $7,000 per student, would require $175 million from the province for their education. The province, in 2000/2001 spent $47 million on basic private school support. $128,444,000 was NOT required from the public. Independent school supporters also pay regular taxes. Choices and "Choice is one of the important principles that Alberta's education system is built on," claims Alberta Learning. The independent school choice, however, receives only 35 cents on the dollar, approximately 1/3. |
Standing
Policy Committee Report
AISCA presented a major report to the Standing Policy Committee on Learning and Employment on February 20, 2002 that demonstrated the monumental level of financial contribution made by Alberta independent school supporters. The presentation outlined for government some of the concerns building in the independent school sector over the past several years. AISCA called for particular issues to be addressed: inclusion in technology integration funding and more equitable funding in general. In addition to being a unique form of non-state operated schooling, independent schools contribute millions of dollars annually to the benefit of the whole of education in Alberta. Contributions by independent school learning providers potentially reach one billion dollars in a decade given the record of current support levels. These "savings" to the province benefit and sustain education for all Albertans. Private School Infrastructure Savings Independent schools save millions of dollars for the province on infrastructure costs. They do not receive any capital funding or operating funding, yet they house 25,000 students. High quality independent school facilities were constructed at 30% to 40% less than public school facilities according to a study by AISCA. The five new private schools reviewed were constructed at an average of $90.00 per square foot. These school communities must also pay for the land needed for the classrooms and gymnasiums as well as for land for school grounds and recreational space. Other community interests often lease or have access to these spaces for other functions. |
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| Facts
From 1995 to 2000 public
enrolment increased by 9.5% while private school enrolment grew
by 8.7%. |
Government
Grant Plateaus at 35 per cent
Efficient,
Effective and Sustainable Education Sustainable Education |
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| Academic
and Professional Qualifications
Teachers in accredited funded independent, private schools have equivalent credentials to public school teachers. They hold the same Alberta professional certificate. The teaching experience and the certificate held are 100% portable to any public school in Alberta as the same Alberta Programs of Study is followed as in public schools. |
Accountable Teachers:
Credential Comparison
Source: Alberta Learning Professional Development and Certification Branch |
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| . | Accountability
Requirements In Independent Schools Accredited, Funded Private Schools are evaluated every three years by Alberta Learning and are monitored annually. The following basic requirements must be met.
Further Conditions
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| Some
private schools may start beginning teachers in the $30,000 range
and pay $45,000 to $50,000 after 10 years of experience. A few of
the 180 independent schools may match public salaries. Fragmented Equity The government's new salary enhancement offers a 4% increase to public school teachers. It provides 2.4% for independent school teachers. Since many of these salaries are 20% to 30% lower to begin with, and due to much lower benefit packages, applying a fixed formula means that schools with lower salaries get less, and those with higher salaries get more. Result: formula driven inequity. A direct 2.4% on the basic instruction grant would have provided equitable distribution. Bottom Line Math |
Public
Salary Increase Impact Reporters have called the AISCA office during the recent strike to ask about salaries in independent, private schools. They are taken aback when they discover that, as a rule, a wide gap exists between private and public school teacher salaries. The mythical image of "elitist" schools endures. The Edmonton Journal reports that the average public teacher salary in Edmonton is $53,000; $61,000 with benefits. Public Teacher Salary Averages Starting salary (with a 4 year degree) $35,273 With 11 years of experience $63,994 Plus a potential 10 or 11% increase Add an estimated $7,500 pension benefit. Equals a top end salary of.approximately $78,000 The Alberta Learning budgets $225,000,000 for public school teacher pensions. According to Learning Minister Lyle Oberg, this would add approximately $7,500 on top of the typical salary. That is why a top end teacher, with projected 10 or 11% increases would earn about $78,000. The pension amount of $225 million is an obvious instructional cost. This, however, is never factored in to the formula when determining the grant portion for independent schools. An instructional grant formula that omits it yields a lower independent school portion. Independent School Salary Averages AISCA sampled 40 independent, private schools and found that starting salaries averaged $26,500 for a 4 year education degree and $40,420 after 10 years of experience. One affiliated group starts teachers at $28,000; after 11 years of experience, they earn $45,500. In contrast, some public school settlements have new teachers starting in the $40,000+ range. Result: Independent schools teachers, on average, earn 20 to 30 % less while holding equivalent credentials. |
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| . | Challenging
Mergers on Alberta's Learning Landscape Alberta embraces diversity of "choices" in learning. All forms of school choice, Francophone, Separate, Charter, Alternative schools, and Home schooling sites are, in most cases, granted full funding. AISCA has always encouraged a principled pluralism for parental choice and has always endorsed choices for children and alternative ways of schooling. Majoritarian opinion, often weighted by teacher unions and public boards, continues to encourage a monopolistic mindset in education. Independent schools, however, in contrast to all other forms of school choice, are not treated equitably. The vast majority of Alberta independent schools are operated by non-profit societies with parent and community elected boards who answer directly to their communities and to government for the quality of their educational services. They are fully accountable through similar mechanisms as public schools are. Yet learning choices exercised "outside" of the public school monopoly box, are usually continually castigated and characterized as unprofessional or inferior when they yield excellent results efficiently, effectively, communally and at 1/3 of the typical public cost per student. Bill 16, passed in the fall, emphasizes the Alternative school model of choice as the preferred structural model for forming or establishing most schools of innovation. It has limited further Charter school formation, capping them at 15. There currently are 10. Will this "structural preference" by government also impede the potential choices that parents would make for independent schools? Cost, for any parent, is a major choice-limiting factor when deciding where one's children attend school. Non-profit schools, developing over-against fully funded Alternative school agreements seemingly is a one-sided arrangement. Potentially it will only lead to fewer and fewer affordable independent schools. Is this a deliberate, intentional blocking of forms of schooling "outside" of the dominant monopoly hold on education? Some would criticize this as a form of "market ideology" in public education that ironically is more attuned to further centralization and control, perhaps desiring a crushing of all forms of competition. Rather than permitting a wider scope of freedom of choice for provision of educational services that are not delivered directly by government, it suggests that only one size with various colours may be permitted. AISCA's February report to the Standing Policy Committee on Learning and Employment describes the new circumstances this way. "When Air Canada set up Tango there is little doubt that they were intent on competing fiercely with West Jet." Alternative schooling options are beginning to function in a similar way. Perhaps Alberta's public school system, in spite of its claims for choice, is controlling and limiting certain choices for parents. Why limit responsible choices? Will more and more cash-strapped independent schools be co-opted and made to operate under all the rules of the mega-system and respond to its inertia and, at times, petty policies. A number of schools may willingly oblige; it is their choice. Ultimately, fewer choices will exist "unboxed." This "corporate-like co-opting" of formerly "condemned" schooling operations has a very simple logic for parental choice. Why fly West Jet when you can fly Tango free! There is little doubt that funding is core to the issue. Funding dollars change direction and the amount required of government and of taxpayers increases exponentially with every merger made. By being deemed public through a shift in governance, former independent, private school students and most of its operations suddenly are eligible for full public funding that is collected by the "adoptive" public jurisdiction." Much of it is centralized. All former teachers automatically become part of the local ATA collective agreement; freedom of association is lost. And choosing not to strike.well, you may not choose. For every 1000 students that " Tangos" over to the public system, the provincial cost of education will increase by $4.5 million. Once 5000 students are deemed to be "public" through this "Tangoing" process, and 3000 already have, the province will expend upwards of $22,000,000 more per year, almost 50% of what it spent in 2000/2001 for 24,000 students in independent schools ($46.5 million). Over five years the additional public sector cost will reach $100,000,000 due to salary settlements. Costs will increase exponentially. When the majority of any one group receives support and benefits that far outstrips the other party, it is indisputable which group will always have the upper hand. More equitable treatment, not necessarily full "vouchering in" is an option to flying united. |
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| . | Independent
School Issues for Government to Consider Particular cost drivers for public instruction are excluded for consideration when it comes to independent schools. Not including particular elements that apply to instructional budgets in private schools when they are included in public school instructional costs skews significantly what the final 60% of instructional funding means. This creates an ever-widening gap in support instead of bringing about reasonable and fair funding in comparison to other learning providers. Chief Public Funding Cost Drivers Not Counted
Sustaining Independent
Schools AISCA urges government to ease funding inequities and lift constraints that threaten independent school choices. Clearly, these schools have demonstrated their successes and strong contributions to society and to the public good. They are well worth preserving. |
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| . | AISCA
Spring AGM Date Change The May AGM is being moved to May 23, 2002 because of a conflict with the Minister's Summit on Learning. Teacher Salary Enhancement: Clarification Some schools have misinterpreted the new salary enhancement funding requirements. When they accepted the enhancement funding, they thought they had to give their teachers a salary increase above and beyond what they had already given them to start the 2001/2002 school year. Only if the increase was less than 2.4% for private schools and 4% of ECS operators would the operator be required to either return the unused portion to Alberta Learning or give an additional increase so as to use the entire enhancement money. Alberta Learning Meets With Private School Authorities Alberta Learning is offering private school information sessions for PRINCIPALS, SECRETARY TREASURERS, and interested directors. Each school should have received notices as to times and places. If not, please check with your Zone office from Alberta Learning. Change in Alberta Transportation Regulation Children under the age of 6 years whose weight does not exceed 18 Kgs. or 40 lbs., being transported in vehicles other than school buses, must be transported in motor vehicles with prescribed child seating. ECS operators and preschools who use volunteer drivers to transport children to and from fieldtrips are effected. A solution to this complication may require:
AISCA Membership Dues School Choice Public Education at a Crossroads |
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| Test
Scores Higher In Provinces That Fund Independent Schools A new study, Learning from Success: What Americans Can Learn from School Choice in Canada was released in February. Highlights from the Study's Findings: International comparisons show that Canadian provinces that provide public funding to independent schools tend to have both higher average achievement scores and better scores for less advantaged students, suggesting that such funding enhances quality. In provinces that provide public funding for independent schools, children from lower-income families attend independent schools in greater numbers and form a higher percentage of total independent school enrolment than they do in provinces that do not fund independent schools. Simply put, lower-income families take advantage of school choice and send their children to independent schools more often when those schools are publicly subsidized. Publicly subsidized independent schools can be accountable to government and still maintain their independence and distinctiveness. Education Funding in Canadian Independent Schools 1. Quebec grants up to 60 percent of public school grants since 1968 2. British Columbia grants up to 50 percent of public school operating costs since 1977. 3. Alberta offers partial funding (35 percent) to independent schools, funds many Catholic schools and a handful of Protestant schools on the same basis as it does regular public schools, and also funds Charter schools. 4. Manitoba makes public funds available to qualifying independent schools, including religious schools. 5. Saskatchewan provides funding to Catholic schools, as well as to some Protestant schools and a few independent schools. 6. Ontario funds Catholic schools equal to public schools and last year created a refundable tax credit, which, when fully implemented, will be worth 50 percent of tuition, up to $3,500. The full text of the study can be viewed on-line at Fraser Institute and Friedman Foundation. Alberta School Achievement AISCA checked last year's grade nine achievement results in a sample group of independent schools from Calgary, Edmonton, rural Alberta, and from selected Alternative schools that have merged with public schools. Results were compared to local Separate and Public systems. For increased reliability, we will expand the review to the past five years. So far independent schools show up as follows: 1. Excellent and acceptable score levels far outstripped the public in most cases. Math and science scores were sometimes double! 2. Rural independent school students did slightly better than urban. 3. Fewer students were excused or absent on testing days, ensuring accurate results. 4. Alternative "formerly
independent schools" improve public test averages. 4. Separate schools generally had better results than public counterparts. |
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