Food bank model becoming standard in education funding
By Wendy Stueck
Vancouver —Globe and Mail
Sep. 05, 2009

As the mother of three school-age children, Ann Whiteaker has bought more than her fair share of chocolate and raffle tickets.

And as the president of the British Columbia Confederation of Parent Advisory Councils, she knows that as kids are heading back to class, their parents are headed back to bingo nights and bottle drives.

But while the routine may be the same, Ms. Whiteaker and others worry that parent groups face increasing pressure to raise money – a kind of fundraising creep – as school boards across the country tighten their belts in the face of government cutbacks.

“Because of the funding cuts, you are going to see an increased demand for fundraising,” she says. “Because parents want to provide the best for their students – right now. Not by the time the government gets around to increasing the funding for certain areas.”… Big bucks raised by parent groups are becoming more prominent on the Canadian education scene and resulting in gaps between schools backed by well-off, well-educated parents and those in less-affluent communities, says Annie Kidder, president of the Toronto-based advocacy group People for Education.

“Fundraising has always been a feature [of the school system] and it's not inherently wrong,” Ms. Kidder says, adding that festivals and silent auctions can be fun and boost morale. “The issue now is that parents are becoming the food banks of the education system.”

Just as food banks have gone from stop-gap measures to fixtures in most Canadian cities, fundraising has become an integral part of school budgets, she maintains.

…. And instead of being used for “extras,” parent-raised cash is sometimes being used for supplies as basic as paper….

But not every school can count on parents who have business savvy or healthy incomes. In B.C., long-time school trustee John Young waged a lengthy court battle over school fees, arguing that they were unfair and resulted in “two-tier education.” In a landmark 2006 decision, the B.C. Supreme Court agreed, ruling the fees were illegal.

Overt fees may have been ruled out, but parents are still digging deep into their pockets for equipment and supplies, including textbooks, says Susan Lambert, vice-president of the BC Teachers' Federation.

“The reality is that parents are subsidizing the system and certain districts are have-not districts and others are very rich,” she says. Supplements to school board budgets from parent fundraising and other sources range from 20 per cent in affluent West Vancouver to 2 per cent in the Kootenays.

…. “Parents will always jump in,” Ms. Whiteaker says. “Because they are worried about their child right now. They don't accept that, ‘in three years, it's going to be better.' Because in three years, my child won't be there any more, and their education matters today.”