HOW SCHOOL BOARDS THREATEN SCHOOL CHOICE

HOW SCHOOL BOARDS THREATEN SCHOOL CHOICE

There’s an interesting quirk of Alberta’s education system, where one of the most widely exercised forms of school choice is actually found completely under the authority of school boards.

One of the most common ways Alberta families have had access to choice in education is simply by having the choice of which school to send their kids to within their local school division.

That might not sound like that big of a deal, but it’s actually not allowed in many other provinces or countries.

This “intra-division school choice” sends a valuable signal to the school division.

It helps tell school divisions which types of programs, approaches, teachers, and such are actually valued by families.

When this kind of choice isn’t given, and students are forced to attend whichever school just happens to be closest to wherever they live, that valuable signal is lost.

Traditionally, that’s why most school divisions in Alberta have allowed for this form of school choice with few restrictions.

Unfortunately, given many school boards’ opposition to school choice in general, this is an option that is now disappearing in many parts of our province, too.

The school boards will say it is due to a lack of provincial funding for new school buildings, and claim that they are just too full.

In some cases, that may be true.

Alberta’s world-class education system - driven by our world-class choice in education - has attracted a lot of new families with children in K-12 here.

Often, however, it is mismanagement by the school board and a failure to appreciate the value of choice that is truly at fault.

And school boards’ own hostility to school choice often drives these poor management decisions.

For instance, school boards fight to keep schools that don’t use residential assignment - charter schools, independent (or private) schools, and alternative programs they don’t run themselves (more on this in a moment) from using their unused spaces, even though they would financially benefit.

As an example, if a school board allows a charter school to use an unused space upstairs from a division school, they are paid by the Province for the full capital cost of their new tenant.

So, while school boards go on and on complaining that the Province can force them to play landlord “for $1 per month”, that is $1 per month more than they would be earning if they somehow fully occupied the space.

It’s also thousands more than they could earn by leaving it vacant, on account of the capital funding!

Yet almost every school board faced with this choice fights to leave the space vacant.

As another example, if a school board were to sell a vacant property to an independent school, that would free up that capital to use where it is needed and space is less plentiful.

When a restaurant chain, for instance, is faced with such a choice, they never hesitate to sell to “the competition”.

By definition - in a free exchange - they value the money more than the property and the buyer values the property more than the money.

So, what is the reason school boards fight to leave school property lying useless?

They have another method of acquiring money - they can pressure the provincial government to tax it away from all of us.

Some school boards even oppose increasing access to alternative programs as a solution to their crowding issues.

Alternative programs must have a distinct focus, such as innovative pedagogy, non-English instruction, religious instruction, character formation, vocational training, or a sporting or arts focus, any of which must permeate the program.

Public school boards are legally required partners for alternative programs, which are also governed by a private society.

Because of their distinct focus, alternative programs tend to be smaller and to use space differently than traditional division schools.

Thus, they can help with flexible school division management in two ways.

First, parents are often willing to pay higher fees for the unique spaces required by alternative programs, relieving the school division of those capital costs.

Second, since they are often smaller and never residentially assigned, alternative programs could be inserted into vacant portions of school board properties for full provincial funding.

Alternative programs are even consistent with opposition to charter schools, since charter schools are not allowed in areas where their programming would be duplicative of the public school division.

But why would some school boards support actual alternative choices, when they can just lie instead?

What’s to stop the school board trustees from signing a letter stating, for instance, that the Calgary Board of Education already had a school that taught the classics … in Greek and Latin … with uniforms and no cellphones, presumably, to try to stop such a charter school from opening in Calgary?

In case you can’t tell from the specificity of that example, that actually happened, and not just in Calgary.

If a charter school has applied to open in your area, your school board has denied their application, claiming it was duplicative of programming they already offered - whether that claim was true or not.

If one opened anyway, it’s because they appealed to the Province.

Finally, school boards waste time, money, and attention on fighting school choice through the Alberta School Boards Association instead of focusing on making their schools better.

The Alberta School Boards Association is supposed to be a place for school trustees to seek professional development in their role, to better manage their school divisions.

Instead, they are principally known for their opposition to school choice outside their 61-member cartel of school divisions.

As you can see, school boards are irrationally hostile to school choice.

They are making poor management decisions because of their bigotry.

Here at the Alberta Parents’ Union, we support all forms of choice in education.

Children are not one-size-fits-all, so their education can’t be either.

That’s why we support parents having access to the full range of choices in public, separate, francophone, alternative program, charter, independent, and home education.

No matter which of these we choose for our own families, we support the full range of choices because we know from research and experience that school choice is a rising tide that lifts all boats through innovation and competition.

Whether a school board candidate supports school choice is an important yardstick for whether they are serious about managing the school division well.

We intend to help you - and all your friends and neighbours - know how your candidates for school board measure up on this and a host of other issues.

For us to fulfill that mission, though, we need your support.