Is the decline in public support for education inevitable?
Charles Ungerleider, Professor
Emeritus, The University of British Columbia
[Permission to reproduce granted if
authorship is acknowledged]
Increased
demands for services combined with tax aversion have put enormous pressure on
governments to “do more with less” especially in public schools. Public
schooling is suffering and will continue to suffer the ravages of demography,
eroding pubic support, increasing privatization, internal migration, and
income inequality.
Regardless
of the details of the approach (model) for the provision of services, all
approaches must consider the numbers of recipients of the service and the
resources that the recipients need. This is especially true of public
education. Almost everywhere in Canada publicly supported school boards must
confront a variety of challenges affecting the number of children enrolled and
the funding necessary for their education.
At the most
basic level, childlessness is increasing; there are fewer children born to
women who are, on average, older than was the case in the past; and the
proportion of the school age population is shrinking in relation to the
proportion of the population over 65 years of age. In relative terms, the
“client base” for public schools is declining and in some places the numbers of
school-age children and youth are falling.
The support
that public schools once enjoyed – even among families – is declining relative
to other demands. Ensuring employment and caring for an older family member
place significant demands on families, diminishing the importance they place on
public schooling.
Increasing
privatization of education is also eroding enrollments in, and support for,
public school systems. Privatization takes many forms: home schooling, virtual
schooling, charter schools, religiously-oriented independent schools, elite
private schools, ethno-linguistic private schools, specially focused schools
(Montessori, Waldorf, etc.). The political and social support that local public
schools once enjoyed is being increasingly challenged by school choice and the
competition among schools for their “market share.”
The
economics of public school are also influenced by the migration of families
from less densely populated areas to more densely populated urban areas. The
impact of the transition is more pronounced in the schools from which these
migrants leave. Schools and services not filled to capacity must still be
maintained for the students who remain or must be closed. Schools with small
student numbers cannot offer the full range of programs and services that
schools with greater numbers can provide. This
increases the cost of schooling. Even when schools are closed - a very
difficult choice for school authorities - the students must be transported to
the nearest available school.
Income
inequality is another factor that poses problems for public services, including
public schools. Income inequality has grown and continues to grow in Canada and
has had a negative impact on the economy. Taxes and government transfers (child
benefits, old age security, social assistance, unemployment insurance, etc.)
help to reduce, but not eliminate, income inequality. But taxes that support
government transfers to reduce inequality compete with claims for increased
resources for publically funded schools. Recognizing that transfers are not
sufficient to reduce severe inequality, governments are developing poverty
reduction strategies. If these strategies are successful, they will reduce the
pressure on schools and other services and free up some of government transfers
for other purposes.
Schooling produces a
good social return on investment. It helps to build capacity and reduce
economic inequalities, suggesting that it is in everyone’s interest to cushion
public schooling from the forces outlined above. Doing so would require
increasing taxation – doubtful in today’s tax averse, political climate. But,
even if taxes were increased, the resources generated would probably be
insufficient to satisfy the public’s competing demands for public services.
Demographic changes and the changing needs of the population will continue to
affect the level of resources that institutions such as public schooling
receive.