Their money is used to buy books, redevelop schoolyards or give scholarships: there are many foundations associated with schools in Quebec. But their scope and the impact they have on educational inequalities remain difficult to define.
Some issue charitable receipts for $75,000 a year, others struggle to raise a tenth of that amount. The foundations associated with schools – when there is one – are very unequal.
The Saint-Barthélemy elementary school foundation, for example, collects at most $6,000 annually, an amount that is used to improve the lives of students by buying books or financing occasional activities.
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, THE PRESS
Ricardo Santos, Amel Yalaoui and Simon Leblond during the fundraising activity for Saint-Barthélemy primary school
“Schools have a certain budget to buy books, but it’s not enough,” says Ricardo Santos, president of the foundation of this school in Villeray, Montreal. “Last year, we bought games, so teachers don’t have to pay out of their pockets,” he continues.
To replenish the coffers, the foundation organizes several activities each year, including a sale of maple products. “We really collect small amounts, we don’t have donations from big companies,” says Mr. Santos. Donations are made for $20 or $40.
Others juggle very different budgets. The Saint-Clément-Ouest elementary school foundation, in Mount Royal, is aiming to raise $50,000 this year, says its website.
“It’s total fog”
The absence of figures on these foundations is “very problematic”, says Sylvain Lefèvre, professor at the University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM) and researcher at PhiLab, a research network on philanthropy.
“I’ve never seen statistics on what it represents in terms of funding, whether in school revenues or in the aggregate amounts of donations: it’s total fog,” laments Mr. Lefèvre.
These foundations “play very important roles”, continues Mr. Lefèvre, who adds that this “raises the question of inequalities between schools”.
The Ministry of Education does not know how many of these foundations there are in its public network, any more than the Federation of School Service Centers or the Quebec Federation of School Directors.
So you have to turn to the Canada Revenue Agency, where they are registered, but among the hundreds of Quebec foundations with “school” in their name, there are dance or entrepreneurship schools as well as public schools and private.
For a school, the money will be used to buy musical instruments that go far beyond the recorder. Elsewhere, it will be the realization of an outside class, the payment of school fees for destitute students.
Among the projects it wishes to fund this year, the Saint-Clément primary school foundation lists on its website: “Specialized educators, in order to contribute to healthy conflict resolution and support for students at risk or adaptability or learning difficulty.
Can a school hire professionals with money from a foundation? At the Marguerite-Bourgeoys school service center (CSSMB), we are referred to the legal framework that governing boards must follow before accepting donations.
However, in some places, foundations are run by parents or directors who also sit on the governing board responsible for deciding whether a donation is admissible or not, noted The Press.
“Public funding is not enough”
Schools, parents and foundations “try to do well”, says Professor Sylvain Lefèvre.
The professor recalls that foundations solicit money from parents and that their administrators are often people who have more time, or “address books to mobilize”.
As soon as we take a step back, we realize that it maintains a collective functioning which is very problematic in terms of inequalities.
Sylvain Lefèvre, professor at the University of Quebec in Montreal and researcher at PhiLab, a research network on philanthropy
What’s more, “there is always public money behind philanthropy through tax incentives,” adds the professor.
On the website of the International School of Montreal (which is part of the Montreal School Services Center), it is explained that this foundation exists because “the public funding of [l’]school is not enough to meet all the needs of our children”.
Treasurer of the Foundation of the International School of Montreal, where we raise about $10,000 a year, Geneviève Perron explains that it is not a question of “replacing the school service centre”.
“There are things that our foundation would like to do because there are shortcomings at many levels, but we cannot because the service center prevents us from doing so,” says Ms.me Peron.
A few years ago, she says, the foundation wanted to refurbish a student room “in disrepair”, but it was impossible to do so, given the rules established by the school service center.
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, THE PRESS
Many people came to support the Saint-Barthélemy school.
At the foundation of the Saint-Barthélemy primary school, we also say that our objective is not to compensate for the failings of public schools.
Nevertheless, last year, we thought of raising funds to change the “rather obsolete” ventilation system of the century-old school, an idea quickly put aside. “The budget was astronomical,” recalls Ricardo Santos.
Foundations parallel to schools raise the question of state withdrawal, says Sylvain Lefèvre.
“We have schools that get by by tinkering, by getting money from parents, from two or three companies. Are we not making acceptable a dynamic that should be unacceptable? Parents also ask themselves the question: why are we doing this? “explains the professor.
At the foundation of the Saint-Barthélemy school, we observe that if we help to better equip one class per year, the fact remains that “it’s just one class out of 34”.
“We know that there are passionate teachers who don’t hesitate to reach into their pockets to help the students, and we intervene to help them with the crying needs of the children. That’s what it tells me about public school: we should help teachers and support them better, ”concludes Amel Yalaoui, vice-president of the foundation.