GOLDBERG: The time for charter schools in Ontario is now

Published Sep 12, 2024  •  3 minute read

A pupil holds the hand of her mother in the courtyard of Jean Mermoz school on September 4, 2012 prior enter in his classroom for an early start of the new school year in Marseille, southern France. Photo by ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT /AFP/GettyImages

Ontario taxpayers deserve choice and value for money when it comes to educating our kids.

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It’s unfair to force parents to keep their kids in failing government-run schools. And it’s unfair to force taxpayers to continue to dump billions of dollars into a system that’s clearly not working.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s government could deliver this by allowing for charter schools in Ontario. Charter schools are not private schools — they exist within the public school system, but they offer parents more specialization, better test scores and they keep unions out of the classroom.

Why is an alternative approach sorely needed?

Let’s look at the facts.

Ontario teenagers’ test scores have fallen by 35 points in math and 12 points in reading over the past 20 years, according to the Fraser Institute.

Experts consider a 20-point drop in performance to be equal to losing a year’s worth of learning. That means today’s 15-year-old students are nearly two years behind their 2003 counterparts in math and more than half a year behind in reading.

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Ontario’s union leaders and the education establishment argue the cause of that decline is government failure to adequately spend on education.

But that’s nonsense.

Back in 2002, the year before the study period began, Ontario spent $14.3 billion on education. This year, 22 years later, Ontario is spending $37.6 billion.

That’s an increase of 163%, more than double the rate of inflation. At the same time, enrollment has remained flat at around 2.2 million. Clearly, spending on government-run schools hasn’t been lagging. Far from it.

If more taxpayer money were the answer, the trend would have reversed long ago.

It’s time for the Ford government to think big. And that means shaking up the system with real reform. It means school choice.

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Over the past two decades, the number of students enrolled in independent schools, which aren’t run by government, increased by 40%. That’s despite the fact the government doesn’t give those parents a dime toward paying tuition.

Parents realize that having their children trapped in declining government-run schools isn’t the best pathway to success.

What might reform look like?

In the late 1990s, the government of Alberta Premier Ralph Klein realized the province’s government-run schools were falling short. So it allowed for the creation of charter schools.

Alberta’s charter schools exist within the public system — they don’t charge tuition because they get per-student funding. However, these schools are given autonomy when it comes to the approach they take to education. At these schools, teachers don’t have to belong to a union.

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Charter schools also uniquely cater to kids in a way that government-run schools don’t. Many specialize in areas like educating kids with special needs or further motivating kids who excel in athletics or the arts.

How have charter schools in Alberta performed since Klein permitted them in the 1990s?

Charter schools in Alberta today cost 32% less per enrolled child.

Even more importantly, students at those schools outperform those in government-run schools by a full letter grade on standardized testing.

Another way to judge charter schools’ performance is demand: are parents looking to send their kids to charter schools? The answer is yes — in droves.

For every one student presently enrolled in a charter school in Alberta, two are on the waiting list.

Charter schools have been a huge success in Alberta. Costs are down, test scores are up, and parents are lining up to send their kids to these schools.

Introducing charter schools in Ontario should be a no-brainer for Ford and Education Minister Jill Dunlop.

Better test scores and saving taxpayer dollars is a win-win. So is empowering parents and forcing unions to compete.

The time for charter schools in Ontario is now.

Jay Goldberg is Ontario director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation

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