Ontario's spending on public schools has increased nearly 40 per cent in the past decade, while enrolment declined, according to a report released recently by the Fraser Institute, a right-wing think tank.
But many school boards, including the Rainbow District School Board, are closing schools to deal with provincial funding cuts through the School Boards Efficiency and Modernization Initiative.
The Ministry of Education says the initiative is a “three-year phased strategy to focus education funding on supporting students rather than empty space.”
This shows that after years of education spending increases, the province is facing a fiscal crunch, said Deani Van Pelt, director of the Barbara Mitchell Centre for Improvement in Education at the Fraser Institute.
She said if the province can spend more efficiently, it should consider doing so.
“I think it's the reality of what happens when you're serving fewer students — we do need to make decisions about whether we are going to continue to fund partially filled buildings,” said Van Pelt.
“We need to rejig how we deliver education when we're serving fewer people. I think it's an opportunity for all of us to be much more creative in how we fund and deliver education.
“But certainly perpetuating old models when we see that increasing expenditure is not necessarily giving us increased results, increased satisfaction. This might be a wakeup call for all of us to say 'Should we be delivering education differently?'”
The Fraser Institute report, entitled “Education Spending and Public School Enrolment in Canada, 2016 edition,” said spending on public schools in Ontario increased from $18.4 billion in 2004-2005 to nearly $26 billion in 2013-2014.
The increase in spending occurred in a decade that saw a five per cent decline in the number of students in the province.
On a per-student basis, spending increased from $10,204 to $12,753 (after accounting for inflation).
In terms of the Rainbow board, its annual funding is projected to increase to $169.2 million in 2016-2017, a 39 per cent increase since 2003, according to information provided by the Ministry of Education.
At the same time, board enrolment declined 20 per cent, resulting in a $5,810 (74 per cent) increase in funding per student. Rainbow — the largest school board in Northern Ontario — also has about 7,000 empty spaces across its schools.
This counters what Van Pelt says is “a common misperception, perpetuated by teachers' unions, that spending on public schools in Ontario has been declining.”
Sudbury.com contacted the Rainbow District School Board about the study's findings, but officials deferred comment to the Ministry of Education.
Ministry spokesperson Heather Irwin said the government's top priority is student achievement and well-being, which is why education funding has gone up so much, despite declining enrolment.
“We continue to provide our student with one of the best education systems in the world,” Irwin said.
While the School Boards Efficiency and Modernization Initiative may result in school closures, there's some good news – it comes with extra funding.
“To complement this initiative, we are investing $750 million over four years to support boards in managing their space more efficiently, as well as an additional three-year, $1.25 billion in renewal funding,” Irwin said.
We asked to speak to Sudbury MPP and Minister of Energy Glenn Thibeault about the above issues, but after multiple attempts, he wasn't made available for an interview.
Nickel Belt NDP MPP France Gélinas said while she opposes the school closures being proposed by the Rainbow board — which are mostly in her riding — she agrees there should be a closer look at where education funding goes.
“The auditor general often paints pretty bleak pictures as to how the educational money gets spent,” she said.
“When the educational money gets spent buying a $10,000 a plate dinner at a fundraiser by the Ministry of Education, you and I don't get anything out of this. We get to pay the bills.”
Gélinas said school closures always seem to target rural schools, which she doesn't think is fair. She said she thinks these schools should become community hubs, perhaps housing provincial services.
