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Part of the Canadian ideal is to allow all Canadians equal opportunity. It is a non-partisan belief and one of the tangible things Canada does that makes us who we are. It is part of our identity and drives such things as medicare, equalization payments, public education, etc..
First Nations schools in Canada seem to have escaped this reality. Education systems operated on reserves function on significantly less funding per student than their provincial counterparts. And by significant I don’t mean a little bit of money, which translates into a little bit of difference in services and opportunity for First Nations students … I mean a lot.
It is worth doing a comparison to demonstrate what I mean by a lot.
Frontier School Division is a public school division that operates 41 schools with 5,980 students in 5 areas throughout the province of Manitoba. FSD has 512 teachers on staff and a teacher pupil ration of 1:12. The 2008/2009 operating budget for FSD was $107,318,428.
FSD spending per pupil for 2008/2009 was $17,946
Opaskwayak Cree Nation in Manitoba operates one school with 1,023 students. OCN has 52 teachers on staff for a teacher pupil ration of 1:20. The 2008/2009 operating budget for OEA was just over $8,000,000.
OCN spending per pupil for 2008/2009 was $7,820
$17,946 vs. $7,820? It is not hard to figure out which students are getting more opportunity and why there is a demonstrable learning gap between on and off reserve students. Over the normal schooling lifetime there is a staggering $121,512 difference in opportunity.
If you are wondering how this funding gap originated, at first glance it may look like it is due to the fact that First Nations students are a federal responsibility and not a provincial responsibility (like other students in Canada). Funding flows from INAC, which has been locked in a 2% budget freeze since Paul Martin took drastic steps to reduce the federal deficit in the mid 1990’s. After 14 years of population growth doubling funding increases the gap will continue to grow larger and larger. First Nations educators have been pushing for a change in the funding model for years with no success. INAC will only pay First Nations schools what they can from their budget … which for us means $7,820 per student. “A funding cap is a funding cap” we have heard over and over.
However if you look closely at FSD’s budget guess where they receive 52% of their revenue from? You got it … INAC! Because they have been contracted to provide educational services on some First Nations in Manitoba through special agreements, they tell INAC their ‘costs per pupil’ and INAC pays them the money, which for them means $17,946 per student.
Am I missing something here or is this completely absurd?
Some have argued that although everyone agrees on reserve funding is low, the feds will not increase funding until there is increased accountability on reserves (First Nations schools do not fall under the watchful eye of the public schools acts). The common response is that accountability cannot be increased until funding levels improve to help pay for the changes. Meanwhile, our students are caught in the middle.
There are three ways out of this critical mess. First, funding for First Nation’s schools must be indexed on a common realistic standard that gives First Nations students a semblance of equal opportunity (Ottawa Carleton School Board would be a suitable example). Second, make all education funding flowing from the federal government conform to the spirit of the Federal Accountability Act. Education money should be protected envelope funds at both the federal and First Nations levels. Lastly, governments must support a First Nations Education Act that would prevent an inequity as gross as this from happening again.
When Canadian children are given two completely different levels of opportunity based on what school system they are enrolled in, something needs to change.
Part of the Canadian ideal is to allow all Canadians equal opportunity. It is a non-partisan belief and one of the tangible things Canada does that makes us who we are. It is part of our identity and drives such things as medicare, equalization payments, public education, etc..
First Nations schools in Canada seem to have escaped this reality. Education systems operated on reserves function on significantly less funding per student than their provincial counterparts. And by significant I don’t mean a little bit of money, which translates into a little bit of difference in services and opportunity for First Nations students … I mean a lot.
It is worth doing a comparison to demonstrate what I mean by a lot.
Frontier School Division is a public school division that operates 41 schools with 5,980 students in 5 areas throughout the province of Manitoba. FSD has 512 teachers on staff and a teacher pupil ration of 1:12. The 2008/2009 operating budget for FSD was $107,318,428.
FSD spending per pupil for 2008/2009 was $17,946
Opaskwayak Cree Nation in Manitoba operates one school with 1,023 students. OCN has 52 teachers on staff for a teacher pupil ration of 1:20. The 2008/2009 operating budget for OEA was just over $8,000,000.
OCN spending per pupil for 2008/2009 was $7,820
$17,946 vs. $7,820? It is not hard to figure out which students are getting more opportunity and why there is a demonstrable learning gap between on and off reserve students. Over the normal schooling lifetime there is a staggering $121,512 difference in opportunity.
If you are wondering how this funding gap originated, at first glance it may look like it is due to the fact that First Nations students are a federal responsibility and not a provincial responsibility (like other students in Canada). Funding flows from INAC, which has been locked in a 2% budget freeze since Paul Martin took drastic steps to reduce the federal deficit in the mid 1990’s. After 14 years of population growth doubling funding increases the gap will continue to grow larger and larger. First Nations educators have been pushing for a change in the funding model for years with no success. INAC will only pay First Nations schools what they can from their budget … which for us means $7,820 per student. “A funding cap is a funding cap” we have heard over and over.
However if you look closely at FSD’s budget guess where they receive 52% of their revenue from? You got it … INAC! Because they have been contracted to provide educational services on some First Nations in Manitoba through special agreements, they tell INAC their ‘costs per pupil’ and INAC pays them the money, which for them means $17,946 per student.
Am I missing something here or is this completely absurd?
Some have argued that although everyone agrees on reserve funding is low, the feds will not increase funding until there is increased accountability on reserves (First Nations schools do not fall under the watchful eye of the public schools acts). The common response is that accountability cannot be increased until funding levels improve to help pay for the changes. Meanwhile, our students are caught in the middle.
There are three ways out of this critical mess. First, funding for First Nation’s schools must be indexed on a common realistic standard that gives First Nations students a semblance of equal opportunity (Ottawa Carleton School Board would be a suitable example). Second, make all education funding flowing from the federal government conform to the spirit of the Federal Accountability Act. Education money should be protected envelope funds at both the federal and First Nations levels. Lastly, governments must support a First Nations Education Act that would prevent an inequity as gross as this from happening again.
When Canadian children are given two completely different levels of opportunity based on what school system they are enrolled in, something needs to change.
3 comments:
First nations are a federal responsibility. But education is a provincial responsibility.
It occurs to me that the federal government and provinicial governments are both responsible for the unacceptable level of short-funding of on-reserve schools.
Education is the backbone of the economy. Who expects first nations to be able to fight poverty if we keep denying them the tools?
The costs associated with funding of schools is varied and may not be directly correlated to the quality of education. I would submit however that if it costs 18,000 per year to educate the average student in Canada. (1/2 the average annual private sector wage) we are probably not getting good value for our money.
Kevin, you make a good point. Standardized assessments from FSD show below provincial average results. Attendance rates are also poor (84%) relatively speaking.
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