I
get VERY tired about hearing how much independent schools are hurting
the public school system, because they take financial resource away.
For
those who have refused to believe this is untrue, or are being
brainwashed by partisan comments from the BCTF and its partners, here
are the FACTS:
Grants To Independent Schools:
The district operating grant consists of the per-pupil base allocation plus supplementary amounts added to produce the per-student district operating grant amount. Supplementary amounts are included for unique student needs (including learning disabilities, learning assistance, speech and language services, mild intellectual disabilities, English Language Learning, aboriginal education, and adult education programs), enrolment decline (greater than one percent per year), salary differentials, transportation and housing, and unique geographic factors. The supplementary factors account for the difference in school district operating grant amounts.
The number of full-time equivalent (FTE) eligible students enrolled in an independent school is a key component to calculating school grants. A full grant is paid for each full-time student who is enrolled for a minimum of 600 hours from July 1 to May 15 of the school year. Partial grants are paid for eligible partial students who receive less than 600 hours of instruction.
The designated percentages are as follows:
Group 1 = 50 percent of the local district's per-student grant amountGroup 2 = 35 percent of the local district's per-student grant amount
SEE MORE AT: http://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/topic.page?id=699A7E1C76EF494D9918D067921A86F1&title=Grants+to+Independent+Schools
In others words, each student in private education, provides an additional 50% of their grants TOO the public school system. Parents of students in private schools, are in fact SUBSIDIZING students in public education.
And before anyone jumps all over private schools for being elitist, the vast majority have demographics as mixed as any public school, and parents that are, by and large, everyday hard working people that live in the same neighbourhoods as everyone else.
Grants To Independent Schools:
The district operating grant consists of the per-pupil base allocation plus supplementary amounts added to produce the per-student district operating grant amount. Supplementary amounts are included for unique student needs (including learning disabilities, learning assistance, speech and language services, mild intellectual disabilities, English Language Learning, aboriginal education, and adult education programs), enrolment decline (greater than one percent per year), salary differentials, transportation and housing, and unique geographic factors. The supplementary factors account for the difference in school district operating grant amounts.
The number of full-time equivalent (FTE) eligible students enrolled in an independent school is a key component to calculating school grants. A full grant is paid for each full-time student who is enrolled for a minimum of 600 hours from July 1 to May 15 of the school year. Partial grants are paid for eligible partial students who receive less than 600 hours of instruction.
The designated percentages are as follows:
Group 1 = 50 percent of the local district's per-student grant amountGroup 2 = 35 percent of the local district's per-student grant amount
SEE MORE AT: http://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/topic.page?id=699A7E1C76EF494D9918D067921A86F1&title=Grants+to+Independent+Schools
In others words, each student in private education, provides an additional 50% of their grants TOO the public school system. Parents of students in private schools, are in fact SUBSIDIZING students in public education.
And before anyone jumps all over private schools for being elitist, the vast majority have demographics as mixed as any public school, and parents that are, by and large, everyday hard working people that live in the same neighbourhoods as everyone else.
Well
I did have a discussion about this with some folks on Twitter, and of
course I got responses not favourable to what had to say. Here are
just a few of the responses I received:
Private education, despite govt contribution , is not available to
all regardless of income
access to benefit of my tax contribution should be progressively
weighted to those with less than me
my opinion on my own tax dollars. Should only be spent on that which
benefits all, to which all have access
If you choose private nobody's forcing you. Pay full shot. Anything
else to me is a subsidy
It's
unfair for public $ to subsidize classrooms of 18-20 in private
system when govt won't bargain CSC in public schools
Here
are just a few of the responses I posted back (with apologies for the
misspells but Twitter only gives you 140 characters including
spaces):
How
is getting only 50% of /student funding a subsidy. Students in
private schools support public system to tune of Millions of $s
Approx
$8,100 / student in public education, while +/- $4,000 per student in
private education. I CAN do the math & its clear 2 me
Paid
same taxs yet when my kids asked 2B in private skool, how was
receiving 50% LESS of the / student funding a subsidy
Bull
Crap! Everyday working parents with students in privat schools have
50% of student grant handed over 2 support public schools
Parents
pay same taxes, but they get 50%. Rest of taxes paid goes to
SUBSIDIZE public education.
And
one of mine final thoughts was:
We
all have opinions on where taxes $ shud be spent, & think we'd
agree lots wasted. Can't agree on this tho - thnx 4 exchange :)
What's
my final thoughts on this? Well to be honest, Math was never one of
my best subjects in school, but I have had to learn math for
business, I in my opinion, I am pretty good at what I need to
calculate.
No
matter how others want to spin it, the Per Student payment for
children in private
education is 50% of what it is for students in
public schools (approximately $4,000 vs. $8,000). And, adding the
roughly 76,000 students currently in private schools to the public
school system would cost the government an additional Three Hundred
and Four Million dollars per year (76,000 students times $4,000
each)!
AND
... most families with children in private school ARE NOT rich
elitist people. They are everyday working families that chose to
allocate the money the earn to have their children in private
schools. They come from the ever shrinking lower and middle
middle-class.
Enough!!!
Leave these poor people alone. And ... let them continue to
subsidize those who are in the public school system.
I'm
Alan Forseth in Kamloops, with the thoughts of one conservative.
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