Despite record-high education spending, British Columbia’s average academic performance in math, science and reading has declined significantly.
According to a new study by the Fraser Institute, inflation-adjusted per-student education spending in B.C. has increased by 6.7% in ten years. From $13,839 in the fiscal year 2012/13 to $14,767 in 2021/22.
In the fiscal year 2024/25, B.C.’s NDP government plans to spend $9.6 billion on education, making it the second largest program spending area after healthcare.
However, B.C.’s academic performance has been declining over the last decade. The study examines internationally recognized testing standards, the Programme for International Student Assessment, or PISA, administered by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the OECD, to gauge this.
According to PISA scores, student performance in math dropped from 522 in 2012 to 496 in 2022, in reading from 535 to 511, and in science from 544 to 519 over the same ten-year period.
Michael Zwaagstra, a public high school teacher, senior fellow at the Fraser Institute and co-author of the study, told True North in an interview that this evidences a disconnect between higher program spending and student achievement.
In the study, the authors recommend several educational reforms they believe can help correct this issue.
Zwaagstra noted a series of curriculum changes in 2015, which he credits for much of the declining educational measures. Any public or private school was forced to implement these changes to access public funding and grants.
He said the change moved the curriculum away from having a focus on knowledge, content, and fundamentals and towards a “discovery” curriculum, which has been publicly criticized since its implementation.
“Instead of having students memorize facts in their brain, everything is more about these big picture, big ideas and the specifics don’t really matter a whole lot,” he told True North. “What that’s doing is it leads to a huge knowledge gap, and that’s a huge problem.”
Regarding curriculum, Zwaagstra advocates reversing those initial “experimental” curriculum reforms and implementing a curriculum that emphasizes memorization and practice, and a return to a “back to basics approach.” For example, he said students should chronologically learn Canadian history, identifying key events that “every student should know” and building on their knowledge.
“In a subject like math, it should be required that they memorize times tables at an early grade, that they learn the standard algorithms for math, science, multiplication and division,” he said. “Focusing on the basics, going in a more sequential way, and making sure the students have mastered important concepts before trying to introduce them to something more advanced.”
He said the monopolized curriculum, which he argues is flawed, has caused the entire province’s academic success to decline. The study also advocates for more educational choices for students and families to solve this.
The study recommends that B.C. allow access to charter schools, like those implemented in Alberta with high success rates, and establish a system allowing taxpayer dollars to “follow the student” should parents choose to enrol their children in an independent school.
Alberta is the only province in Canada that has charter schools. These schools are publicly funded non-religious schools that don’t fall under the jurisdiction of a local school board.
Zwaagstra said that access to charter schools would allow lower-income families who don’t have access to private schools to have more choice if they feel their child isn’t getting the education they need in the public school system.
“It shouldn’t only be wealthy parents that can take their kid out of a failing school and put them in an independent school that is more successful,” Zwaagstra said. “That choice, that option should be available to parents of all income levels.”
Currently, 86.4% of British Columbians are enrolled in government schools. B.C. has the highest number of students enrolled in private schools, and many of those schools receive public funding. Some receive 50% public funding, others 35%, while the rest are ineligible.
The study instead advocates for a system resembling Australia’s public funding of private schools. This system accounts for socioeconomic areas, giving less funding to schools in richer areas, enabling poorer families to still have a choice in the education their children receive.