THE PROVINCIAL EDUCATIONAL SYSTEMS

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

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

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.

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.