Toward a Warmer Climate for Ontario’s Private Schools

Two weeks ago, Cardus (a Canadian think tank based in Hamilton) convened a group of senior level stakeholders in education from across Canada, representing the public and independent school sectors, to consider this question: Could a warmer climate for school sector diversity improve education in Ontario?

Building on the insights gained at the conference, Cardus has now published a very scholarly and thoughtful paper entitled "Toward a Warmer Climate for Ontario's Private Schools". The paper is only 20 pages long and very well written and insightful, but somehow I suspect that few of our readers will take the time to read the whole thing. For you, here is the Reader's Digest version.

Ontario's stance regarding private schools is the result of the application and addition of ad hoc rules and regulations over many years that have been applied with no thought as to a coherent overall policy, and therefore the need for a serious policy review is urgent. Neither the massive changes that have taken place in Canadian society during the last 30 years or so, nor the education policy changes that have been brought in in the other major Canadian provinces, nor the emergence of "school choice as a burgeoning human rights issue in the US" have been taken into consideration in Ontario. 

In fact, Ontario has been heading in precisely the opposite direction from much of the rest of the world when it comes to education - especially when it comes to its policies towards the province's private schools. At present, the climate for the province's private schools is extremely chilly and getting colder all the time - with a large number of handicapping fees and rules having been added over the last 10 or 15 years. 

The paper demonstrates that the development of a mutually-respectful partnership between public and private schools would benefit everyone concerned. There are many examples of such a symbiosis in other sectors - for example, non-profit and for-profit bridge clubs that work together towards their mutual goal of promoting the game of bridge - and there is no reason why public and private schools should not be working together towards their mutual goal of providing an excellent education to children.

It is time for Ontario's private schools to be brought in from the cold.

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