Study
| EST. READ TIME 2 MIN.Government funding for independent schools saves British Columbia taxpayers millions every year
Funding for BC Independent Schools Saves Government Money
- BC’s policy allowing a portion of parents’ tax dollars to follow their child to the independent school of their choice, saves the BC government money. Eliminating this school choice would cost BC taxpayers tens of millions to hundreds of millions of dollars each year.
- From 2012/13 to 2022/23, the share of BC students enrolled in independent schools increased by 13.1 percent, while the share of students attending government public schools decreased by 1.7 percent.
- Research shows the average incomes of families with children attending independent schools in BC are similar to the incomes of families with children attending government public schools. Only 7.7 percent of BC independent schools could reasonably be defined as “elite schools.”
- In 2020/21, the average per-student cost of a student attending government public school was $14,601. The same year, the average per-student cost to government of a student attending independent school was $8,685. The BC government saves $5,916 on average for every student who attends independent school rather than government public school.
- Looking specifically at the costs, if 10 percent of independent school students migrated to government public schools because provincial independent school funding was eliminated, the BC government would need to increase spending by $51.6 million per year. If 25 percent of independent school students migrated to government schools, it would cost government an additional $129.1 million per year. If 50 percent migrated, it would cost an additional $258.2 million each year.
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Paige MacPherson
Associate Director, Education Policy
Paige MacPherson is Associate Director of Education Policy for the Fraser Institute. For many years, Paige has contributed policy analysisand commentary to major media outlets and research organizations across Canada, focusing on education policy, fiscal policy and government accountability. She holds a Master of Public Policy from the University of Calgary School of Public Policy and a BA from Dalhousie University. Prior to joining the Fraser Institute, Paige was Alberta Director and Atlantic Director for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, TV host and politics reporter with Sun Media and provided communications for the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies, where she founded a post-secondary student outreach program. Paige’s work has taken her from coast-to-coast-to-coast.… Read more Read Less… -
Max Shang
Economist, Fraser InstituteMax Shang is an Economist at the Fraser Institute. Prior to joining the Institute, Max worked for the Food andAgriculture Organization of the United Nations as a statistician and University of Guelph as senior research associate. His past research work has been published in leading peer-reviewed academic journals including Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics and Computational Statistics. During his Ph.D. study, Max developed two more efficient statistical methods for calculating insurance premium. He holds a Ph.D. in Food, Agricultural and Resource Economics from the University of Guelph.… Read more Read Less…
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