Educational Freedom = Better Schools

Last month, a Leger Marketing Poll announced that 32 percent of Canadians are dissatisfied with their province’s school system. This discovery should prompt governments to offer recompense to families who feel they are being shortchanged by public education. They should offer an educational guarantee: If you’re not satisfied with public education, you can to switch to the independent, home or charter school of your choice without penalty.

This guarantee would have three parts. First, it would allow parents to take 50 percent of what would have been spent on their children at public schools and spend it on their choice of independent school instead; or it would allow up to 25 percent to cover the out-of-pocket costs for home schooling.

Next, it would guarantee independent schools real independence. Regulations that stop schools from deciding their own curriculum or from hiring teachers, regardless of certification, do students a disservice.

Finally, the provinces’ educational guarantee should include legislation for charter schools. Charter schools are a breed of independent public school which enable like-minded parents and educators to create educational alternatives that are satisfying to both their public and their private constituents. Funded by the public, charter schools may not charge tuition or select their students by ability, and if they fail to perform satisfactorily both their public and private constituents will be closed.

This guarantee may sound extraordinary to Canadians in some provinces, but to Albertans, who live in the province with the most educational freedom, much of it will sound commonplace. Provincial education policy in this country varies more than the national education policies of many other countries. Some provide considerable support for that dissatisfied third of parents who might prefer to educate their children “outside the box”. Others do everything in their power to stop parents from accessing any school but their local public school.

This guarantee of educational freedom would serve not only to increase the satisfaction of parents with the education system, but also to improve the academic achievement of our children.

The first Canadian Education Freedom Index, published this week, which highlights the vast differences in education policy across the country, finds a link between the academic achievement of students on national tests and the amount of educational freedom of the province. There is no link between education spending or student/teacher ratios and either freedom or achievement. Alberta, Canada’s freest province, scores consistently at the top of national achievement tests, also has higher satisfaction than the national average, according to the Leger poll. Those provinces that consistently score below average on academic tests tend to be those with the most restrictive educational policies.

This link between achievement and educational freedom has been corroborated in much larger studies. International education research has produced unequivocal evidence over the past decade that educational freedom benefits both the children who use it and the public education systems that embrace it. Though academics rarely agree on anything, all the researchers who have studied the effects of choice on low-income children have concluded that it is a useful tool for poor families to improve their children’s education.

Harvard economist, Caroline Hoxby has also demonstrated that “an increase in school choice improves student achievement [in public education] even while accomplishing substantial cost savings.” Her work, corroborates the findings of the Kiel Institute, whose largest study of educational efficiency ever made, found that competition from independent schools and school autonomy in personnel and process decisions were key factors in higher student achievement.

This significant body of evidence has influenced decisions to promote greater educational freedom in several American states and a growing number of other countries. It should be having more influence on education policy in Canada, particularly in Ontario, Saskatchewan and the Atlantic provinces where parents and students have the least amount of educational choice.

The case is clear. Policies that promote or guarantee educational freedom would offer both short-term relief for the significant minority of parents frustrated with the system, and an impetus to improve provincial education systems in the long-term. Policy makers who turn a blind eye to the evidence will have to explain to future generations of Canadians why their province failed its children when the rest of the world was embracing school choice.