The Ontario government’s plan to issue guidelines for how public schools fundraise and what that money is spent on, has the support of Centretown’s public school trustee.
Jennifer McKenzie, trustee for Kitchissippi-Somerset, says fundraising guidelines would do a lot to correct imbalances that fundraising creates in schools.
“Fundraising sets up inequities in the public school system where some schools are able to raise large sums of money and others schools are able to raise truly none,” she says. “I think some guidelines would be very welcome to set the rules for how schools fundraise and for what purpose.”
A report released in late August by People for Education, an Ontario parent advocacy group, said much of the money raised in schools isn’t going to extracurricular activities, such as field trips, and is instead funneled towards “basics,” such as computers, textbooks, and school supplies, typically paid for by the provincial government.
With fundraising paying for a significant portion of basic costs, many worry the school system will become two-tiered, divided between schools that are able to raise large amounts of money and those that aren’t.
“The increased reliance on fees and fundraising inevitably leads to a system of ‘have’ and ‘have-not’ schools, as evidenced by the wide range in school fundraising totals,” the report said.
Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty says that’s “unacceptable” and has promised a draft of fundraising guidelines for January 2011, aimed at defining “what constitutes appropriate fundraising and what constitutes inappropriate fundraising.”
However, the issue of who spends what and where they spend it differs from school to school, with parents, teachers, and administrators all having a say in the argument.
At Elgin Street Public School, principal Barbara Johnston said the school’s parent council, which is responsible for the majority of the fundraising efforts, doesn’t often encounter the same problems that other schools do with fundraising.
“They’re very definite in what they want to support,” she said in an interview. “It’s basically making sure those opportunities are available for the kids for enrichment.”
At Glashan Public School, teacher Mike Caplan said a large part of the school’s fundraising money comes through teacher and administrator-run food sales, with the money going towards end-of-the-year field trips to Quebec City and Montreal for senior students.
Glashan’s parent council also raises money by selling pizza at the school every Thursday, with the money raised last year going towards the purchase of a SMART Board (a type of interactive whiteboard), a multimedia cart, and various pieces of sports equipment, said Caplan.
Catherine Chung How, a member of Glashan’s parent council last year, says the most important aspect of fundraising is how the money earned affects the children at the school.
“I think as parents we’re always asking for money to improve the environment for the children.”