Enrolment in government-run public schools is on the decline in Canada while attendance at independent institutions is on the rise, according to new research.
The Fraser Institute’s Associate Director of Education Policy Paige MacPherson has found that enrolment in government-run public schools has been going down since the 2006/2007 school year.
Using data from the 2006/2007 school year to the 2019/2020 school year for all grades from K-12, MacPherson has shown that the number of children enrolled in government-run public schools has actually dropped more than a full percentage point – from 93% to 91.8%.
While the national rate of enrolment did not change significantly during this period, eight of the ten provinces saw declining attendance in government-run schools.
British Columbia had the lowest public school enrolment despite the fact that the provincial government had increased education spending. B.C.’s education spending also exceeded the national average, with a 15.4% spending increase from 2014/15 to 2018/19.
Quebec and Manitoba were the next two provinces with the lowest enrolment rate, while Newfoundland and Labrador had the highest.
On the flipside, MacPherson found that enrolment in independent schools had risen from 6.7% to 7.6% during the same time period. This comes despite the fact that independent schools put a greater financial burden on families who choose them.
The only provinces that showed a decrease in enrolment in independent schools were Alberta and Quebec.
B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Quebec all offer some kind of government funding for independent schools. Nova Scotia offers the Tuition Support Program, which subsidizes a very limited amount.
This research is not the first to put the Canadian public education system under scrutiny. As previously reported by True North, the Association for Reformed Political Action has criticized provincial governments for not offering parents a diversity of approaches to education.
ARPA Canada Director of Law and Policy Andre Shutten notes that “(w)hile there might be a diversity of people within one big education system… there’s not a diversity in approaches to education, in different institutions providing education for our kids.”
Small improvements have come, however.
For example, Alberta recently approved its first tuition-free public charter school focused on classical education, the first public non-denominational classical education program in Canada.
Alberta’s education minister Adriana LaGrange stated, “we are proud to have a vibrant school system that supports a parent’s right to choose the type of education that is best for their child.”
The Calgary Classical Academy will start in the 2022/2023 school year and will offer classes from kindergarten to Grade 6.
