Taxpayer subsidies of B.C. independent schools have climbed some $27 million in the past year amid surging enrolment, even as public school boards have voiced their desperation for funding.

It’s unfair that parents who can afford a top-up are getting even more taxpayer dollars while the Vancouver School Board faces a $24 million deficit and is looking at closing as many as 21 schools, said Dr. Farah Shroff, who is on the district’s parent advisory council.

“We shouldn’t be funding those schools, we should have that money in the public system,” she said. “If parents are able to afford that it seems fair enough they would be able to afford the full cost."

But independent schools may save taxpayers money because they actually charge the province less per student, said Peter Froese, the executive director of the Federation of Independent School Associations.

Some provide specialty programs that aren’t reflected in the public systems, he said.

The taxpayer cost of independent schooling has jumped from $270 million in 2010 to $341.5 million last year – an increase of more than $70 million. The funding formula was established in 1977 and hasn’t changed since.

That money goes to most of the roughly 357 private schools in B.C. They are divided into four funding levels.

About 250 are Group 1 schools, which employ B.C. certified teachers, and provide programs consistent with ministerial orders and follow the B.C. curriculum. They get about 50 per cent of the local school district’s per-student operating grant. Many are Catholic schools, such as Star of the Sea, whose tuition is about $2,200 a year for parishioners, or other religious schools, such as the Sikh Academy.

About 70 Group 2 schools meet the same requirements as Group 1 but are typically university preparatory schools that have higher per-student operating costs. They get about 35 per cent of government funding. Examples include St. George’s School, whose day school tuition ranges from $18,000 to $30,000.

About 20 are Group 3 schools, which are not required to meet Group 1 requirements, and a further 15 are Group 4 schools, which cater to non-provincial students. They don’t receive government funding. Examples include Sino Bright School in Gastown, whose tuition has been reported as high as $20,000, or City Vancouver Academy in Richmond, where students pay $1,300 per course.

In an email, a Ministry of Education spokesman said of some 30 independent schools that have opened in the past six years, 10 are not funded by the ministry. 

“These schools are valuable economic contributors to BC. Also, many of the partially funded independent schools provide very specialized education options for parents and students,” the spokesman said.

Cascade Christian School opened in Chilliwack in an area of population growth in the Fraser Valley resulting in increased demand for educational programming options, he said. St. Matthew’s, a Catholic school, opened in Surrey and absorbed students who would be attending other Catholic schools. Both are 35 per cent publicly funded.

Honour Secondary, a new high school in Surrey, is a specialized program where all students are in youth custody. It was a program that used to be offered by the Surrey School District.

In Richmond, the Pythagoras Academy gets 35 per cent public funding, while City Vancouver Academy gets none.

In Vancouver, four of five new schools get no public funding. Qawsain Knowledge House, B.C. certified Islamic-based independent school is slated to open its doors in 2016, and will get 35 per cent funding, he said. 

The map below shows schools with dropping enrolment (red dots) and rising enrolment (green dots). Red markers indicate schools that have closed, purple markers show schools that have recently opened and green markers show schools that have more than doubled in enrolment in the last five years.

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