Reading the text “Instilling hope in Quebec schools” published in The duty and signed by around thirty presidents of the defunct French-speaking school boards, certain observations are necessary.
First of all, we must remember that private schools in Quebec share the same objective and the same mission as the entire school network, namely to ensure the well-being and success of Quebec students so that they can contribute to meet the challenges of their generation. We want to complement public schools and share best practices from all areas to improve the entire school system.
Then, the subsidized private school is not an additional expense for the State. On the contrary, the amounts paid by parents for their child’s education represent significant savings for the Quebec government, which thus has more resources to support public schools.
The main difference in terms of the management of our schools is that the private school is autonomous and can determine how to structure its services to students and spend its budget. So, if a school notices that it has more students having difficulties in French, it can hire a remedial teacher, organize peer help or even recovery periods with a teacher, whichever is best. adapted to its students.
Let us add that private schools are non-profit organizations (NPOs): all the money these schools receive is devoted to their educational mission. In addition, several of them have inherited heritage or heritage buildings, and they are making gigantic efforts to preserve this built heritage. By promoting openness to their community for sporting and cultural activities and day camps, these schools contribute to keeping this heritage alive and allowing the citizens of their municipality to benefit from it.
Furthermore, if the existence of private schools were the source of the problems of public schools, we would observe much better results in public schools in regions where there are few or no subsidized private schools. However, this is not at all the case. We cannot attribute responsibility for public school problems to the fact that 10% of Quebec students attend private schools.
Like early childhood centers, CEGEPs and Quebec universities, Quebec private schools are autonomous non-profit organizations, which stand out for their agility in meeting the needs of the young people they support. It is this agility that allows them to stand out and provide education and support appreciated by families.