More money hasn’t improved B.C. schools

As the new schoolyear begins, parents in British Columbia should know two very salient facts. Student performance is down but school spending is up.

For example, according to results from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), B.C. student test scores declined by 42 points from 2003 to 2022, the latest year of PISA data. To put this in perspective, PISA equates 20 points with approximately one grade level. In other words, B.C. students are (on average) two years behind in their math skills than they were in 2003. Over the same two decades, reading scores of B.C. students dropped by 24 points, putting them one year behind where they were in 2003.

Of course, school trustees and teacher union leaders think they have the solution to this problem—more money. School boards regularly claim that inadequate funding makes it harder for schools to function while the BC Teachers’ Federation clamours for smaller class sizes and higher salaries for teachers. Both will, of course, cost more money—much more money.

However, there’s no evidence that more money will solve the problem. According to Statistics Canada data, per-student spending in B.C. increased by 31.9 per cent (or 6.7 per cent after adjusting for inflation) from 2012/13 to 2021/22, the latest year of available data. And during the same time period, operational spending, which is comprised mainly of salaries and benefits for teachers, increased by 3.1 per cent (after adjusting for inflation). Thus, teacher unions are incorrect when they claim that teacher salaries and benefits are falling behind the rate of inflation.

Simply put, B.C. taxpayers are spending more money on public schools and getting worse results. Something is wrong with this equation.

Obviously, correlation does not prove causation, but there’s no reason to assume that not spending “enough” is the reason student academic performance is declining. Research shows that more spending does not necessarily lead to better academic results.

Of course, in countries that spend considerably less on education than Canada, more spending does correlate with better academic results. This makes sense. Excessive teacher turnover harms student learning and students must be in a stable learning environment to excel. If teachers aren’t paid enough to make a decent living, they will not remain in the profession and students will suffer.

However, things are quite different in Canada where provinces already spend a significant amount on education. Provincial governments in this country should spend more wisely rather than simply pour more money into the educational system. In B.C., rather than cede to demands to open the spending taps, the government should take concrete steps to improve schools.

How?

For starters, B.C. should restore the content-based standardized exams that were dismantled over the last decade. And the government should also reverse its nonsensical decision to abolish percentage and letter grades for K-9 students. Parents overwhelmingly opposed this change, which had little support from classroom teachers. Students must receive report cards they can understand rather than nebulous feedback such as “emerging” and “extending.”

Students also deserve a content-rich curriculum that helps them acquire the knowledge they need. Research is clear that content knowledge is essential to reading comprehension. The B.C. government did students no favours when it introduced provincial curriculum guides that contain considerable edu-babble but little content. And teachers should know how to teach reading effectively, and feel empowered to enforce basic behaviour standards for students.

If we want better academic results in B.C., we should stop listening to politicians and union leaders who think more money is the solution. It isn’t.