Admit it or not, our schools live in a have and have-not world, even though operating funding does employ a kind of equalization formula intended to ensure a level playing field between schools in less affluent communities and schools in communities with a higher level of family income.
In an ideal world, equalization would work, but in the world in which we, and half a million kids in British Columbia live, equalization formulas can’t do it alone.
Even small school districts experience difficulty establishing a balance of opportunity between schools.
I know this because at one time I was the principal of a good-size elementary school where at least half the population lived with one parent and the other parent, almost always dad, was absent. Some dads were even serving time.
School staff and parents struggled to somehow, somewhere, find the money for field trips, team uniforms, instructional equipment and, in many cases, breakfast for the kids.
Just across town was another, smaller elementary school where a significant number of six-figure double-income households were able to support any and all opportunities not funded as part of their school’s “basic education” program.
An extreme example I’ll admit, but the point remains — for many reasons beyond the control of anybody, there are B.C. schools that “have” and schools that “have not.”
That’s what worries people like Annie Kidder, who runs a non-profit called People for Education, which promotes public education in Ontario.
More than 1,000 schools participated in a survey, and Kidder discovered that just in Ontario, parents raised half a billion dollars in 2013.
While some of that money was raised for donations to outside charities, the majority was spent in schools.
“Fundraising used to be seen as something needed for extras — team shirts, or a special event. Today the question we ask is: ‘What is an extra?’” Kidder said.
Good question, and school districts in B.C. are being asked by government how they, the districts, not government, would come up with the kind of money needed to cover the government’s clumsy mismanagement of the negotiations with B.C.’s teachers.
B.C. districts might have to eliminate music, drama and sports programs to stay within budget. What used to be considered a standard part of an education just isn’t anymore.
Money will be raised in those communities where parents have the time, the energy, the connections and the know-how to get that money flowing. But that will not happen for every school or even in every school district.
The gap between the “have” schools and the “have not” schools will, over time, become much more apparent even than it is now.
Maybe that’s why business is stepping in to make a modest profit by taking up the slack.
Wealthy School Revolution, a professional fundraising business, is the brainchild of Sarah and Darryl Davis of West Vancouver. Davis reports that the company has been growing quickly, with operations in 300 schools across B.C., Alberta, Ontario and Nova Scotia.
Wealthy School Revolution offers a program where families and neighbours can, through the buying power of the company, buy the kind of stuff, such as paper towels, people normally buy at their local supermarket. Profits are split between the school and Davis’s company.
Any school can subscribe and, if they have access to the technology, parents can shop and order online, so it’s the retailer’s cut of the sale price that is being shared.
But public-education booster Kidder still thinks the whole premise of fundraising for education is problematic.
“The mindset you end up with is that public education is a charity which will rely on the generosity of individuals or large corporate donors,” she says.
And here’s the thing — until now at least, Canadian public education hasn’t been seen as a charity that needs to be augmented.
As public education becomes more dependent on non-government funding, that could change.
Geoff Johnson is a retired superintendent of schools.
