Education system needs more accountability, not more money
NB taxpayer is calling on Education Minister Kelly Lamrock to retract his statement in which he warned New Brunwickers that "he won't apologize for raising taxes" if it means he can implement policies which would see equal accessibility for all students.
This recent threat to taxpayers by Minister Lamrock is completely unacceptable, not to mention, his notion that the [education] system is starved of cash is absolutely obsurd considering the province of New Brunswick already allocates more tax dollars to education, which includes spending for disability access, than almost every other province in Canada. In the 2006 budget, education spending ballooned to $1.2 billion, a 3.3 per cent increase over 2004-2005.
Furthermore, at $1,700 per New Brunswicker per year and climbing, education spending in NB is higher than in Newfoundland ($1,553), P.E.I. ($1,548) and Manitoba ($1,351), just to name a few, according to Statistics Canada.
Moreover, in 2006-07, the New Brunswick government was projected to spend $7,834 per student per year, and with declining enrolment, this represents the highest-ever per-student funding to date. B.C. is projected to spend $7,338 per student (their highest) by 2008-09, Quebec ($6,761), Saskatchewan ($6,995), and Nova Scotia ($6,335).
So there is no question the funding is there.
And as David Shipley wrote in a Telegraph Journal article last November quoting AIMS president Charles Cirtwill:
This recent threat to taxpayers by Minister Lamrock is completely unacceptable, not to mention, his notion that the [education] system is starved of cash is absolutely obsurd considering the province of New Brunswick already allocates more tax dollars to education, which includes spending for disability access, than almost every other province in Canada. In the 2006 budget, education spending ballooned to $1.2 billion, a 3.3 per cent increase over 2004-2005.
Furthermore, at $1,700 per New Brunswicker per year and climbing, education spending in NB is higher than in Newfoundland ($1,553), P.E.I. ($1,548) and Manitoba ($1,351), just to name a few, according to Statistics Canada.
Moreover, in 2006-07, the New Brunswick government was projected to spend $7,834 per student per year, and with declining enrolment, this represents the highest-ever per-student funding to date. B.C. is projected to spend $7,338 per student (their highest) by 2008-09, Quebec ($6,761), Saskatchewan ($6,995), and Nova Scotia ($6,335).
So there is no question the funding is there.
And as David Shipley wrote in a Telegraph Journal article last November quoting AIMS president Charles Cirtwill:
Rather than spending more, New Brunswick needs to see its education system become more accountable for the money it already has, said Cirtwill. Among the ways to make the system more accountable would be to empower parents and students with the ability to choose schools.Indeed. So the next time Lamrock spouts off in favour of raising taxes (yet again) in order increase revenues for education, just tell him, throwing money at the problem isn't the answer. What we truly need in this province is more accountability and choice.
Schools would be allowed to specialize in certain areas, developing expertise and offering students a choice. Schools that do well would be rewarded with high employment and funding per student from the province.
Schools that did a poor job meeting the needs of students would be held accountable through declining enrolment and funding.
Such a system is in place in Edmonton and has worked well, said Cirtwill.
"It's time to start thinking about some fundamental adjustments in the way we deliver education."
(Hat tip Spink About It and Burton Front)
11 Comments:
Typical Liberal attitude. Spend your way out of a problem.
Yeah, I wasn't too happy to hear those words coming from Minister Lamrock.
Unfortunately anon, this has been an increasing problem with our education system as spending has increased incrementality and results have shown that students in our region [province] continued to score lower academically than students in the rest of Canada.
There is nothing wrong with more accountability, however, throwing the baby out with the bathwater is a bit mistake. Alberta has a system of charter schools, NB doesn't. Simply adopting a different model doesn't necessarily lead to more accountability. Being able to choose schools was pretty much the system that lead to the problem in the first place.
Schools get low funding, no students, low scores so less funding. It should be the opposite, schools with students with low test scores obviously have HIGHER needs so should get MORE money. Cirtwill just wants a 'private model'.
For funding, keep in mind that you don't use the system you are comparing to, namely Alberta, which spends more, as well as ontario, which spends an average of $10,000 per student.
That can also be compared with places that are similar, such as Vermont, which also increased spending to close to 10 grand.
Provinces with rural populations tend to spend more, and NB is the second most rural province in the country.
However, for accountability there's no doubt the system needs to be even opened up to get accurate data.
The educational model is based on an outmoded system. In many cases with the internet and online learning tools, teachers are not even necessary for many students.
One of the highest areas of spending is at the post secondary level, but even there the necessity of teachers is even more suspect.
As with every department in NB, the government fails miserably to account to citizens. A recent statscan study showed that students who do not live close to a university were five times more likley not to attend university. Studies also show that the salary discrepancy is close to 20 grand a year over time between those with degrees and those without. Its not a coincidence that the most dependant on natural resources is the north, and the only places with universities are in southern NB.
So thats even MORE spending there, but again, how many bureaucrats does it take to run a department? If you want to bash the department then get some REAL statistics. How much money is going to school upkeep? How much goes to teachers, what are teacher salaries? How many administrators are there? How does that compare with other jurisdictions? How many teachers are there per student?
Spending per student is irrelevant until you know how the money is distributed. I seem to recall that class sizes were still fairly large for new brunswick.
Keep in mind that the department of education is huge in NB. New Brunswick is the only province in the country where all public libraries fall under the department of education. In most places they are regional and municipal concerns.
New Brunswick is the only province in the country where all public libraries fall under the department of education.
Interesting you mention that Mikel. I received an interesting email from a New Brunswick mayor who believes the Library system in New Brunswick is inefficient and unproductive. I'm doing some investigation and will post at a later date.
Libraries all across the country are inefficient, however, thats an example of how New Brunswick operates differently than other places. Local control of libraries lets local people have control. If you live in a hick town, which is more important, that your library gets Irving rags and A&E DVD s from the states, or that it be the one place in town where people can get high speed internet?
Is it more important that funding goes toward buying statistics canada publications that should be free, or that the library help fund a local historical society that is researching the culture of the area?
Those are just a few of the issues there, so having a huge bureaucracy in Fredericton make those kinds of decisions is definitely a question to be answered. Whether it has meant there are equal services for libraries across the province I dont know. Many libraries are facing an identity crisis. Some operate just as a place to sign out new movies, but some are the only places where the poor can access the internet.
However, in university towns it is more useful for people to get a library card at the university library rather than the city one, at least for what libraries are important for-learning.
All interesting points in the above posts, but it still doesn't justify the tax and spend reflex employed by most NB governments. If what some have said is true, that NB already spends a fair bit on education, there is no doubt that we are not getting the most for our money. A plan to improve what is already being spent should have been his first call, before calling for more tax money. I have heard alot about what should be done, but little about how it will happen.
But when education and schools are tossed around for political gain (think Albert Street Middle School) the real reform will be difficult.
That's a good point, and nobody here is 'defending' Lamrock's statement, all that is being claimed is that like any department, education is a huge complex issue and without the pertinent facts people shouldn't be jumping the gun.
It may very well be that not enough money is being spent, we don't know that. Take a look at the agriculture file, in a place like Saskatchewan then spending on education 'can' be less because there is a viable industry that rural kids can go into. The agricultural industry in NB is practically nil.
New Brunswick is a highly rural province. When looking for 'results', you don't simply look at money spent per student. Again, take a place like Vermont, which is even more rural than New Brunswick. THere, in the early nineties they had similar problems NB has now.
So what did they do? They pumped Ontario level dollars into education, roughly twice what New Brunswick does.
But for policy they did exactly the opposite of New Brunswick. They put the money into rural schools, whereas in NB the policy has been to close rural schools and bus students to larger ones. This means a higher student to teacher ratio, something that is well known to affect educational outcomes.
However, keep in mind also that while Vermont hired and trained lots more teachers, they don't make nearly what New Brunswick teachers make. In Canada, relative to the states, teachers are paid VERY well. In many states teachers can't even live off their salaries.
In New Brunswick, the teachers union is very powerful, and of course they have to make a living.
However, while the govenrment is fairly secretive this is once again a failure of the media system. We don't have any of the answers mentioned above, we dont know how much money is spent or where. All we see is lots of coverage of splashy things like the moving of that school.
One of the hardest things in a province like New Brunswick is to look at this stuff critically. Go to careerbeacon and the vast majority of white collar jobs there are within govenrmetn at some departmental level. Without those jobs the province wouldn't have hardly ANYBODY left in it. I'm not saying that that justifies it, I'm saying that is the reality of it.
Do you really want to associate yourself with a guy who think we should deport every muslim and ban the religion from Canada?
I don't happen to endorse that thinking, paulin.
However, it is a free country where we allow free speech. That is what I love about this country of ours. If we have conflicting sentiments or criticisms about religion, we talk it out. In other word, we have learned a lot from our "bloody" past mistakes.
That's why I have always said that we need to be more welcoming and tolerant in this region. Just check out Florida's last T which I posted about earlier, not to mention, I wholeheartedly agree:
As Richard Florida explains in his book The Rise of the Creative Class, "access to talented and creative people is to modern business what access to coal and iron ore were to steelmaking, Cities that score well in terms of Florida's 3Ts --- technology, talent and tolerance (where the latter is measured by the amenities and opportunities available for every lifestyle) --- will become places where the creative class will cluster."
At the moment, we don't score well here on any of the three. To be honest, it's not bewcause of being weak in just one category as they are all intertwined.
You do not debate any of his post. But you agree with him which could tend me to believe that you have the same idea.
But I ask and you respond with a satisfying answer. I've deleted blog from my favorite before because I think extremist should be left shouting in a corner alone.
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