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Ontario school boards generated more than half-a-billion dollars in fundraising in the last school year, in a practice that is becoming increasingly important to the cash-strapped public education system but may be creating disparities between rich and poor, according to a new report.
The figure, which is to be released today by the parents' group People for Education, marks the first provincial tally of so-called school-generated funds, a wide-ranging category that includes chocolate bar sales, school fees, pop machine profits, charitable donations, cafeteria proceeds and school-based fundraising campaigns.
"We were amazed by how much it was," said Annie Kidder, the group's executive director. "That is a fundamental shift in Ontario in our way of thinking about public education, that we're going to assume now that there's going to be hundreds of millions of dollars of private money within the public system."
In the 2005-2006 school year, the first full year in which boards were required to report all money received by schools in their financial statements, school-generated funds totalled $567-million.
The information is contained in the parent group's annual report on Ontario's public schools, which was obtained by The Globe and Mail. The report also found that elementary class sizes are smaller, fewer students are on waiting lists for special education and more elementary schools have physical-education teachers. However, it noted that many schools lack English-as-a-second-language teachers and funding for library and arts programs.
Given what many see as inadequate government funding, money-raising activities have taken on increased importance. In many cases, charity often pays for what some consider essentials: library books, computers and classroom supplies.
The Peel District School Board recently adopted a policy that will allow parents to raise money for large projects, such as labs, additions to buildings and pools.
Some parents worry that fundraising creates widening disparities in the public system, since schools in well-off neighbourhoods can marshal more money than those in disadvantaged areas.
"It really is sort of stigmatizing lower-income families who don't have those kind of resources," said Adonis Huggins, a Toronto parent.
Rick Johnson, president of the Ontario Public School Boards' Association and a trustee with the Trillium-Lakelands District School Board, argued that fundraising helps parents get involved in their children's education. In his area, parents raised about $2.5-million to build a performing arts centre at a new high school. But he said that boards should be cautious.
CLASSROOM CASH
From chocolate-bar sales to pop-machine revenue, public school fundraising in Ontario has become significant.
| Average per student $ | Total amount raised, $million | |
| South-western Ontario | $357 | $131.4 |
| Northern Ontario | $331 | $37.1 |
| Eastern Ontario | $317 | $106.1 |
| GTA less Toronto | $310 | $181.5 |
| Central less GTA | $297 | $47.2 |
| Toronto | $210 | $63.8 |
SOURCE: PEOPLE FOR EDUCATION
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