Education Funding Model. A Brief to the BC Education Funding Model Review from the British Columbia Teachers&apos; Federation
Author: British Columbia Teachers' Federation (BCTF) (Canada)
Date: 2018-02-00
Type: Reports - Descriptive
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Educational Finance,Funding Formulas,Public Education,Resource Allocation,School Districts,Educational Equity (Finance),Needs,Economic Factors,Special Needs Students

Teachers welcome the British Columbia government's review of the funding formula for public education. While inevitably suffused with technicalities, this exercise is fundamentally an opportunity to ensure that schools and classrooms reflect both the needs of students and, more broadly, British Columbia's values as a society. It is a chance to ensure that every student in every school is given the opportunity to reach their full potential. Long overdue, this review is an occasion to look at funding for public education holistically. Doing so means answering the important question of how provincial funds are shared between local school districts, while paying attention to the inseparable issue of whether total outlays are sufficient to sustain the education system and the one students need. A new funding model should reflect three over-arching priorities for funding the public education system. Funding must be: (1) adequate and based on need; (2) equitable and inclusive; and (3) comprehensive. Previous studies questioning the relationship between increased funding and student outcomes failed to account for the myriad ways in which changes in funding and changes in student outcomes often vary together (for example, a school's neighborhood becoming poorer can lead to both higher funding and worse educational outcomes, although there is no causal link between the two). While adequately funding public education should be a principle of social justice and social fairness, this report concludes that it is also an economically sound investment. British Columbia government the following recommendations for the new funding model: (1) The adequacy of total funding for public education should be a central focus of the funding model review; (2) The new funding formula must include specific provisions for funding the costs of provincially bargained collective agreements; (3) Identified needs should be central to the new funding model; (4) Formula amounts should be automatically adjusted to, at minimum, keep pace with inflation and any other contractually agreed upon increases; (5) The new funding model should be more transparent, increasing accountability for Ministry staff and making judgments of how resources align with public education priorities easier for all British Columbians; (6) Funding for special needs should remain anchored in identified needs and include dedicated funding for identification; (7) The new funding model must take into account and equalize the unequal capacity of school districts to fundraise; (8) No school district loses funding as a result of the funding model review; and (9) The funding model review should start from a full picture of the mandate of the public education system. The public education system has a broad mandate--one that is central to building a vibrant, democratic, and equitable world for this and future generations; any new funding model must be ready to fulfill this mandate as completely as possible. A combined list of references and further reading is provided.