Fees and Fundraising Update

Posted on 23. Jun, 2011 by admin in Reports, SPT News

For the last eight months Social Planning Toronto as a member of the Inner City Advisory Committee Fees and Fundraising Subcommittee has been investigating the impact of non-public funds on our education system. On June 7, 2011 the Inner City Schools Advisory Committee (ICAC) invited representatives from the Ministry of Education’s finance department to attend a public consultation on the impact of ‘school-generated funds’ (fees and fundraising) on our public education system and the Ministry’s Draft Guidelines on Fundraising. About 50 parents, students and community members made it to Fairmeadow School on a Tuesday morning to share their thoughts, concerns, observations or comments about fundraising in publicly funded schools.

This is a brief overview of what we have learned over the past eight months:

School fees and fundraising activities create inequities between students, among schools and make the public school system less inclusive and accessible. Marginalized students suffer. The amount of money entering schools through grants meant to assist vulnerable students, such as the Learning Opportunities Grant, are often used to balance budget shortfalls across the system. Meanwhile private money entering schools through fees and fundraising is kept in the schools that raise the money.

This map shows the richest and poorest third of schools in Toronto and their ability to bring money into their schools through fees and fundraising. Schools located in richer parts of the city bring in more money, supplementing an education funding shortfall.

As one parent told us: “With a fundraising element, the public school system becomes multi-tiered. In affluent neighbourhoods, the school can offer an enriched learning experience with better classroom equipment, better fitness facilities, and more field trips. In poorer neighbourhoods those opportunities would not be unavailable. In a public school system, is it acceptable to offer the children in Forest Hill a better education than those of Jane and Finch?”

As we have learned our education system is generally underfunded and while fees and fundraising do lead to richer opportunities and outcomes for Toronto’s wealthier students all schools are dependent on these non-public funds help subsidize the costs of educating students and keeping the buildings running.

A parent and School Council Chair at a TDSB school told us: “Without the fundraising that we do, our school would be without many things that would, by normal standards, be considered “School Board responsibility”. Requests from teachers and the Principal for classroom technology, books, markers, kleenex, fixed-up facilities (broken tables etc.), sports equipment, workshops for kids, resources for the library are outstanding. Without the funds raised by parents, our school would go without.”

Even with millions of dollars entering the system on June 22^nd the TDSB is facing this budget shortfall of $55 million with a structural deficit of $170 million due to unfunded costs in staffing, in programs such as special education, in textbooks, in upgrading classroom technology for the 21^st century, etc. The school board is also facing a $3 billion building renewal backlog (the average school in the system is 60 years old and is in need of retrofitting).

Please see our brief on Fees and Fundraising and our presentation to the Ministry for more information and watch for our extended report release in late August. Stay tuned for our fall consultation on Corporate Partnerships.