All school are public schools

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 01/02/2023 (1282 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

“(A)ll schools, no matter how financed or how governed, are public schools in the sense that they bear responsibility for the creation of a public,” said renowned educational philosopher Gary Fenstermacher in his 1997 essay On Restoring Public and Private Life.

For him, schooling is essential to the learning and nurturing of the civic values, norms, mores, customs, relationships and interactions required to question, support and sustain meaningful democratic life. More controversial might be the issue of financing and governing, but it seems to me to be a worthwhile conversation to have to precede any further discussions of school reform and school funding.

What might Fenstermacher’s assertion look like in the Manitoba context of schools of choice, independent and religious schools, provincial bargaining and an imminent provincial funding announcement promising greater equity?

If we can agree that a primary purpose for the existence of schools is to create the civic attitudes, skills and understandings necessary for the fostering and supporting democracy, then it follows that the school system relationships and arrangements should support the foundations upon which democracy rests and is sustained.

Those ideals are inclusion and equality, often coined as equal opportunity to participate in the affairs of the state.

As they now exist, both schools of choice and independent schooling, whether religious or not, challenge both those ideals. Simply because of where they live, the means available to them or the limiting conditions of choice, many parents cannot choose a school other than their neighbourhood school.

No matter how choice is reimagined, the inequalities can never be entirely eliminated, particularly in rural and northern areas. But they certainly can be reduced in urban areas, particularly if some of the barriers and inequitable conditions are removed.

Although they are likely to be somewhat controversial, several possibilities exist in the current context. For example, as we approach a system of provincial funding, governments could decide to provide the same level of funding to approved independent schools as they do to other schools, provided those schools would welcome all students whose parents prefer them.

This would mean independent schools would not be able to turn away children for religious or financial reasons, or because of students’ exceptional needs.

Under such circumstances, students would be able to attend religious schools if their parents were willing to live with their teachings, even if their family’s religion differed from that of the school. As this is already often the case, and as public school students can currently be exempt from religious exercises and instruction, this does not seem like a huge stretch.

And other independent schools could, under the governance of their existing legislated boards of directors, continue to offer alternatives specific to their constituencies. Such arrangements would give real meaning and substance to “schools of choice.”

In the same vein, such a scheme would also address two other issues with which I am often confronted in my teaching and professional life. Boards, principals and teachers in independent schools could overcome their collective guilt, stemming from their not admitting children for non-educational reasons having to do with their reputations or their caregivers’ inability to pay tuition.

Furthermore, such an arrangement might reduce the superiority some independent schools claim — claims bolstered by their practices of not accepting students who might prove behaviourally or educationally challenging to their reputations.

Along with the move to provincial funding, the province has just passed legislation enacting provincial bargaining, ostensibly aimed at reducing discrepancies in teachers’ salaries and benefits across divisional jurisdictions. Including independent school teachers as part of that package could serve to reduce the built-in inequalities in compensation and benefits between “private” and public school teachers that many now experience.

Although these matters would require some compromises and, perhaps, minor legislative revisions, and the ideas would require considerable refinement through a broad public dialogue, I believe they represent significant possibilities and promises for a more open, accessible, equitable and inclusive school system.

All in all, the advantages of every school being deemed and designated a public school include a strong acknowledgment of the importance of educating children and young people for democratic citizenship, a clear and public commitment to equalizing educational opportunities and the fair treatment of teachers, and a more coherent, understandable schooling system overall.

And it would help justify adequate provincial funding for all schools at the same time as upholding the current Public Schools Act by reaffirming parental choice, local governance and provincial authority and responsibility.

John R. Wiens is dean emeritus at the faculty of education, University of Manitoba. A lifelong educator, he has served as a teacher, counsellor, work education co-ordinator, principal, school superintendent and university professor.