Political and Administrative Organization

THE PROVINCIAL EDUCATIONAL SYSTEMS

The provincial governments enjoy explicit, exclusive jurisdiction in the area of education under section 93 of the Constitution Act, 1867. As a result, the organization of the educational system, educational paths, and the conditions under which instruction is provided (particularly respecting whether public or private schools are charged with making education-related expenditures) vary from one province to another.

Concerning educational paths in particular, it is important to note that the number of years of elementary and secondary education is not the same across all 10 provinces. Thus, according to the 2007 edition of the Report of the Pan-Canadian Education Indicators Program published by the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada, all provinces offer one-year pre-elementary programs. Five provinces " namely, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta " offer certain categories of children an additional year of schooling. In all provinces except Quebec, elementary and secondary education together makes for 12 years of schooling (from Grade 1 to 12). In Quebec, elementary and secondary schooling lasts 11 years " i.e., six years at the elementary level and five years at the secondary level. Quebec also stands out from the other provinces on account of its college system, which is distinct from the university system.

The provinces evidence strong variations in terms of the share of educational expenditures shared between public and private institutions as well as between levels of education.

Public and private expenditures (M$) in 2002-03, Provinces, Canada

  

 Level of education

Type of expenditures 

 NFL

PEI

NS

NB

QC

ON

MB

SK

AB

BC

CAN* 

Pre-elementary, elementary-secondary 

Public

579

148

990

848

8,351

15,433

1,809

1,517

4,120

4,995

39,143

Private

33

2

43

16

967

1,348

138

72

448

498

3,573

Subtotal

612

150

1,033

864

9,318

16,781

1,947

1,589

4,568

5,493

42,716

 Trade-vocational

Public

185

30

79

157

1,237

848

206

266

611

791

4,533

Private

21

6

12

15

60

219

29

22

162

133

683

Subtotal

206

36

91

172

1,297

1,067

235

288

773

924

5,216

 College

Public

35

20

94

67

1,893

1,117

102

67

426

469

4,354

Private

3

11

17

16

251

575

25

8

221

106

1,239

Subtotal

38

31

111

83

2,144

1,692

127

75

647

575

5,593

University 

Public

219

62

325

257

3,335

3,536

439

488

1,128

1,607

11,489

Private

86

11

405

147

1,368

3,289

230

297

672

804

7,310

Subtotal

305

73

730

404

4,703

6,825

669

785

1,800

2,411

18,799

 All post-secondary

Public

439

112

499

481

6,465

5,502

747

821

2,165

2,867

20,375

Private

109

28

434

177

1,679

4,083

283

327

1,055

1,043

9,231

Subtotal

548

140

933

658

8,144

9,585

1,030

1,148

3,220

3,910

29,606

 All levels combined

Public

1,018

260

1,488

1,329

14,816

20,934

2,556

2,339

6,285

7,862

59,519

Private

142

30

477

193

2,646

5,431

421

398

1,504

1,541

12,804

Total

1,160

290

1,965

1,522

17,462

26,365

2,977

2,737

7,789

9,403

72,323

Source : Conseil des ministres de l'éducation du Canada et Statistique Canada, Indicateurs de l'éducation au Canada, édition 2007, Tableaux B.2.2. et B.2.4.
* Including expenditures in territories.

As a rule, for all of Canada, the further along that school populations are in their educational paths, the more that households, as opposed to public authorities, assume the associated financial burden. Whereas this share is 8.4% for the pre-elementary, elementary and secondary levels, it rises to 38.9% at the university level. Prince Edward Island and Quebec are the two provinces in which the differential between compulsory schooling levels and the university level are the lowest. In the case of Quebec, this situation stems from the relatively high rate of attendance at private secondary institutions (nearly one Quebec high school student in five (18.3%) attends a private school) and the fee schedule set by the private sector.

Relative shares (in %) of public and private school populations at pre-elementary and elementary-secondary schools in 2003-04, Provinces

 

 

NFL

PEI

NS

NB

QC

ON*

MB

SK

AB

BC

Public

98.4

99.0

96.8

98.5

89.3

94.0

85.8

90.2

93.2

90.0

Private**

1.0

0.8

2.2

0.8

10.4

5.3

6.5

1.4

4.8

9.3

Funding of private schools by provincial government

No

No

No

No

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Source: Jacques Marois (2005), La situation de l'enseignement privé dans les 10 provinces canadiennes, Fédération des établissements d'enseignement privés du Québec, http://www.cadre.qc.ca/feep/relpub/financement%20privé%20canada%20rapport%20final.pdf (in French only).
* in 2002-03; ** including students of government-funded and non-governement-funded schools

NB: there are also clienteles of a type other than public or private.

In addition, it is also important to note that the size of the school population enrolled in compulsory education programs in private schools is highly conditional upon the existence and scope of public grants. In Canada, the situation pertaining to the funding of private schools is split down the middle: five provinces do provide funding to private schools offering compulsory education while the other five do not. Quebec is the province where the proportion of students attending a government-funded private school (pre-elementary, elementary and secondary) is the highest (9.5%), followed by British Columbia (8.0%) and Manitoba (5.9%).

 Number of school boards in the Canadian provinces in 2012

 

NFL

PEI

NE

NB.

QC

ON

MB

SK

AL

BC

5

3

8

7

72

72

37

28

63

60

Source: Websites of governments as of August 2012.

Concerning the organization of education services, each province relies on a decentralized structure involving varying numbers of school boards, which themselves are organized on both a territorial and linguistic basis. Indeed, while the school boards of all provinces cover a specific territory, their organization also takes into account the language of instruction used in schools and, sometimes, religious aspects. This situation stems from the obligation applying to provincial governments under the Canadian constitution to provide education services in French and English whenever the number of pupils warrants doing so. Thus all of Canada’s provinces have at least one French-language school board and one English-language school board. However, it is important to note that language is not necessarily the defining factor of a school board’s field of action. For example, in Quebec, three so-called “special status” school boards are considered as being multilingual since they cover territories characterized by more than one language of instruction. Concerning governance, the school boards of all provinces are directed by a school board commissioner elected by the local populace.

 Revenue sources of school boards (in dollars) 2008

 

Local taxes

Provincial government

Other sources*

 

$M

 % RT

$M

  % RT

  $M

  % RT

NFL

0

0.0

627 006

96.3

23 815

3.7

PEI

0

0.0

169 415

98.6

2 362

1.4

NE

181 897

16.3

855 060

76.5

80 293

7.2

NB

0

0.0

856 961

99.5

4 254

0.5

QC

1 448 543

14.3

7 543 325

77.7

808 516

8.0

ON

6 440 913

31.9

12 311 315

60.9

1 449 819

7.2

MB

646 205

35.8

1 059 669

58.8

97 531

5.4

SK

713 651

43.2

832 787

50.4

104 825

6.3

AL

1 625 066

27.7

3 824 882

65.2

417 396

7.1

BC

1 628 678

32.3

2 717 253

54.0

690 658

13.7

Canada (1)

12 695 520

26.5

31 467 144

65.7

3 709 080

7.7

Sources: Statistics Canada, E-STAT, Tables 478-0010, updated on August 21, 2012.
School boards represent schools that are part of the public education system at the primary and secondary level.
* Other revenue sources include sums that come from the federal government, students and other tuition fees, as well as other private sector sources. (1) Inclusive of the expenditures of  territorial administrations (Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut).

In the area of funding, the breakdown of school board revenue sources varies considerably from one province to the next, as can be seen in the above table. In practice, however, it is possible to distinguish three main groups of provinces:

  • Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick, where school boards are almost entirely funded by the provincial government;
  • Quebec and Nova Scotia, where school boards receive almost three quarters of their revenues from the provincial government. In both these provinces, local taxes account for approximately 15% of the total revenues of school boards, while the remaining revenues are derived from other sources;
  • Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia, where the share of revenues originating with the provincial government represents between 50% and 65% of the total revenues of school boards. In these same provinces, most of the remaining revenues are derived from local taxes. Nevertheless, the school boards of Saskatchewan stand out on account of the high level of funding derived from local taxes, which account for more than 40% of their revenues.