The emergence of a market-driven funding mechanism in K-12 education in British Columbia: creeping privatization and the eclipse of equity

Abstract

Since 2002, British Columbia’s education system has undergone extensive change following amendments to the BC School Act (Bill 34). This article presents a critical analysis of policy changes to the K-12 education finance system, particularly the expansion of the legal capacity of school districts to create ‘school district business companies,’ a phenomenon that is unique within Canada. These companies enable public school districts to establish for-profit companies that operate at arm’s length from the school board, yet generate revenue from private sources to supplement government operational grants. This shift occurred in parallel with fiscal restraint measures that centralized control over the level of government funding while downloading inflationary and new costs to school boards. The result has been structural funding shortfalls for school districts across the province. Structural funding shortfalls, coupled with a push toward market-driven revenue generation, signaled to school districts that they needed to become more financially self-reliant. The authors argue that efficiency and adequacy (defined in financial terms) have eclipsed equity as priority values in BC education, and that ‘creeping privatization’ is undermining public support of public education. For the most part, these substantive changes have failed to stimulate a mass public outcry, and organized resistance comes from public sector unions.