Three-speed school | Don’t shoot down private school

To hear its detractors argue, the “three-speed” system is responsible for all the ills of the Quebec education system.

The case is clear: private schools and special-purpose public programs skim off the best students, which leaves more young people in difficulty in the regular public network. This observation is undeniable. We must do more to offer all students the best chances of success. We will return to this in a second editorial, on Monday.

But the solution is not to abolish subsidies to private schools, even if it means seeing them close, as demanded by unions and researchers who are crying foul about “school segregation” financed by the State.

First, let’s get something straight.

We are talking about private schools. But these are non-profit organizations (NPOs) whose “profits” are not astronomical, as demonstrated by careful research conducted by our columnist Francis Vailles. On average, the 27 largest private schools in Quebec generate an annual surplus equivalent to 5% of their revenues, which gives them a healthy margin of maneuver to absorb potential blows, particularly for building maintenance. Ultimately, these surpluses must be reinvested in their mission.

Read the column “Grande écoles privées: what to think of the 33 million in profits?”

It is true that some schools have questionable administrative costs. But overall, we cannot say that the private sector is a money-making machine on the backs of families and the State.

Next, let’s take a step back.

We don’t congratulate ourselves enough, but Quebec students are among the best in the world, according to the PISA tests which measure the results of 15-year-old students in 79 countries around the world.¹Without denying the very real problems that are making headlines this school year (lack of teachers, dilapidated premises), it is important to salute the work of our teachers and the success of our young people.

And we must also ask ourselves: why would we disrupt a system that produces such enviable results?

Especially since the Quebec school system achieves these excellent results by being as egalitarian as the other provinces, according to various studies carried out by researchers at ESG UQAM.^{2, 3}.

In fact, students with poor results who come from disadvantaged backgrounds do less well in Quebec than elsewhere in Canada.

Within the province, we see that achievement gaps between students also exist in regions where there are no private schools (Gaspésie, Abitibi), as well as in elementary schools where the three-tier system is limited. In fact, the gaps already exist in kindergarten, where nearly a third of children (29%) are considered vulnerable.⁴.

So why blame private schools?

What would be achieved by cutting off their supplies?

Some believe that by cutting subsidies to the private sector, the state would make savings that could be reinvested in the public sector.

It’s far from clear.

First, you should know that Quebec pays $737 million to private institutions, which represents only 4.4% of the $16.8 billion budget allocated to education in Quebec.

This budget has already increased by 53% (5.8 billion) since the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) took power, without the public’s problems disappearing. Private money would therefore not make such a big difference.

In any case, cutting subsidies to the private sector risks costing the State more.

Many families would not be able to afford to pay more to compensate for the loss of subsidies that account for about half of private schools’ revenues. Many children would therefore migrate from private to public schools, where the government would foot the entire bill, without any contribution from parents.

In Ontario, the private sector, which is not subsidized, attracts only 7% of students, compared to 13% in Quebec. What would the situation be like here? This variable is fundamental. It means that different studies arrive at contrasting results on the financial impact of withdrawing subsidies from the private sector.

But in 2015, the Permanent Program Review Commission, mandated by the government, had made several scenarios⁵. In any case, the State came out the loser, with an additional bill varying from 11 to 115 million per year.

Beyond the financial argument, some believe that it is necessary to bring students back to the public sector to promote socio-economic diversity.

If we view the mission of our education system in a broader sense, as a place where we learn to live in society, then coeducation is a very healthy goal. But if we view school as a place where we learn a specific subject or task, then grouping students together has its advantages.

In secondary school, the gaps are so great that it is illusory to think that we can put everyone in the same class. We must go according to each person’s strengths, a bit like in sports where we do not place all the young people in the same league.

And we should not imagine that by eliminating private education, the gaps between students would magically disappear. In fact, “segregation” would materialize differently.

Where there are no private schools, families pay more to buy a house located near a well-ranked public school, as several studies have shown in France, the United Kingdom and the United States.⁶.

Result: parents pay in mortgage what they would have paid in private school. We end up with more homogeneous neighborhoods. As for diversity, we have not made much progress.

So, let’s not shoot down the private sector, a solid network that can do excellent work with students in difficulty.⁷. Let’s use it more, and everyone will win.

1. Check out the Canadian results of the OECD PISA 2018 study

2. Consult the study Provincial inequalities in international-national literacy tests

3. Consult the study Trends in cognitive skill inequalities by socioeconomic status across Canada (in English)

4. Consult the study The proportion of vulnerable 5-year-old nursery school children has been increasing for 10 years

5. Consult the 2015 report of the Permanent Program Review Commission

6. Consult the study When do better schools raise housing prices? (in English)

7. Read the editorial “Miracles Can Be Done in Schools”