School Choice Myth-Busters

Issue 1: Existing Range of Choices is Adequate

Myth: School boards currently offer a wide variety of options to parents, such as French immersion and academy-type schools. We don’t need more choices.

Facts: It is true that there are some public schools of choice, but they are limited primar-ily to French immersion schools, schools of the arts, and schools for gifted students. Here are just a few of the additional choices that should be available to parents: schools that offer direct instruction, including systematic phonics; schools free from continual labour strife; schools for religions other than Roman Catholic; single-sex schools; German im-mersion schools; Montessori schools; year-round schools; hockey schools; academy-type schools; Waldorf schools; part-time schools; high-tech schools; and many, many more. These options could be offered by regular public schools, magnet schools, freelance schools, charter schools, independent schools, or funded home schools.

Issue 2: Two-Tiered Education

Myth: School choice will create a two-tiered education system because savvy parents, who are primarily well-educated and affluent, will choose the best schools for their children, while less sophisticated parents will not be similarly able to pull strings for their children.

Facts: This myth accurately describes the situation that exists today. Well-educated, affluent parents are either working the system to get good service for their children (per-haps by asking for a particular teacher or by moving to the catchment area of an excellent school), or else they are enrolling their children in independent schools. In contrast, par-ents without these kinds of resources and know-how are forced to settle for whatever comes their way. In an expanded choice scenario, nothing changes for the former group of parents, but the less sophisticated parents gain improved access to what are currently unaffordable alternatives.

Issue 3: School Choice Disproportionaly Benefits the Rich

Myth: School choice is wrong because it will direct public funds to wealthy families, the prime source of inde-pendent school students.

Facts: Of the almost 900 independent schools in Ontario today, only about 30 are “élite” schools with tuition fees far in excess of the provincial per-pupil average. In the provinces that have been funding independent schools for some time (Alberta, BC, Manitoba, and Quebec), more low-income children attend independent schools, and they form a higher percentage of total independent school enrolment than in provinces that do not fund independent schools. In the US, when the Children’s Scholarship Fund offered low-income students $1000 vouchers towards independent school tuition, more than 1.25 million students applied. The average income of applying families was less than $22,000, but these families were still willing to make the necessary financial sacrifices to pay the balance of the tuition fees.

Issue 4: Skimming

Myth: Schools of choice will skim off the best students, leaving mainly problem students in the public schools.