An STF-hosted virtual provincial election forum delved into the issue of independent school funding, prompted by questions from the public.
Moderator Jennifer Quesnel noted that provincial government contributions to private schools have increased by 79 per cent while funding to public schools increased only 13 per cent.
A Sask. Party government “would continue to fund independent schools at the current rate,” Sask. Party candidate Jeremy Cockrill said.
“The reality is that we believe that parents, at the end of the day, should have the choice of where their children go to school and we allow that between public and Catholic schools. Certainly, we would continue providing funding to independent schools because they do provide choice and options to parents.”
“(We’ve) added oversight to independent schools over the last several years as we have developed these tiers to make sure that there is a higher level of accountability if you’re in the certified category,” he added.
NDP candidate Matt Love, who is a teacher, said the Sask. Party government created a new category for all independent schools, noting some of them have former staff facing criminal charges.
“We have other categories of schools that have really been created to get massive amounts of dollars, and it has been the position of the Sask. Party government to see that that category of schools expands and grows and flourishes,” Love said.
“It’s been their stated goal, and they use very American-style, Republican-style talking points, both parental choice and educational choice. Most parents in this province don’t have choices, (with) one school in their community.”
An NDP government’s priority would be to increase funding for public, Catholic and French schools, Love said.
“Our position has always been that any school that gets even a single dollar of public funds needs to ensure that they’re abiding by the Saskatchewan Human Rights Code and that they’re not mistreating their students in ways that we’ve seen from several of these schools where allegations have come forward.”
Love said the NDP would review school funding, but did not provide details.
“Our priority and our commitments are to publicly funded, publicly delivered schools and to not do what the (education) minister and his party have done here, which is divert funds into these independent schools,” he added.
Buffalo Party Leader Philip Zajac said his party does not believe government should dictate where parents send their children to school, and that “funding should be fair across the board and equitable.”
Green Party representative Valerie Brooks said all government funding for private schools should be phased out over the next five years. Parents can choose where their child goes to school, “but public dollars, tax dollars, in a public system needs to be allocated completely to fully public, accountable, transparent schools that are accessible to everyone,” she said.
PC Party of Saskatchewan Leader Rose Bushell said public tax dollars should not go to independent schools, adding that church and state are kept “separate for a reason. It should be out of the schools and if they want to teach that, then maybe they should get funded by the churches which they represent.”
Michael Oleksyn is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter with the Prince Albert Daily Herald. The LJI program is federally funded by the Government of Canada.
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