Hello fellow educators, its podcast number 107. Last week I began addressing the issue raised by the School Board Trustees in School District 79 which is on Vancouver Island. As a response to fiscal and public pressures the Trustees passed this controversial resolution "That BCSTA request the Province of BC to redirect the public money spent on private education to public education system starting with this upcoming Provincial budget." The BCSTA is the British Columbia School Trustees Association which unites and brings together trustees from all over the Province to support the District Trustees as well as create a united voice to the Provincial government. The BCSTA will meet next week to discuss and vote on this plus twenty two other motions.

First let's start this with some of the comments you emailed me on this issue. Here is a comment made by one of our parents at Heritage:

"Just wanted to let you know that I enjoyed your podcast.  I agree with your point of view completely.  Although I am not into politics, Is it not true that we pay taxes for our public schools whether we attend or not?  Why shouldn't the government continue to assist those who desire a higher quality education for their children?  Do we not live in a democratic country?  I believe the School District 79 is  being biased and not considering everyone's rights, just their own selfish cause.  Taking away funding may not influence parents in a positive way, I would be afraid that more parents would "unschool" and not follow any curriculum , which in my opinion is not in the child's best interest, when it comes to furthering their education, be it college or university.  The way it is now at least the children signed up with the independent schools are following BC curriculum  and in my opinion at a much higher standard.  My children were enrolled in the public system so we have tasted both sides.  I believe a Christian based curriculum produces; respectful, law abiding, honest and self driven/motivated individuals.  I believe funding should be increased to the independent schools for the great job they are doing.  Sincerely Esther ......, a Homeschooling Mom at Heritage Online School."

Thanks Esther. I to agree that this would create a difficult situation for the Home education movement in our Province. Over the past 10 years, the majority of home schoolers have decided to enrol their children in a  Distributed Learning program. Most Christian home schoolers, in the last six years, have chosen one of the eight Independent school programs since Independent schools began receiving funding for DL education. We have seen more and more parents opt to home educate their children because of programs like Heritage. I talk with families all the time who would not select this option if they didn't have the help and guidance of a teacher, help with curriculum choices and some funding to supplement their children's program. Provincial funding makes this available for these and all of our DL families. I do believe, if this funding was lost, that many if not a majority of our home education families would return a traditional approach to home schooling but Esther is right in that most would not follow the BC Education plan, thus returning home schoolers to the challenges faced 10 years ago when these options were not available.

I took the time to send last week's podcast to the Member of the Legislature (MLA), Norm Letnick, who is responsible for the riding that our campus school and online school offices reside. He is a Liberal who in his first term with the BC Legislature. His reply was short but sweet:

"Hi Greg, Thank you for the email.  The BC Liberal party is committed to continuing our partnership with independent schools (the opposition is not). I would be happy to meet with you if there is something more you would like to discuss. Regards, Norm Letnick, MLA."

We shouldn't perceive this short answer as a lack of political will in the present government. The BC Liberal party of the last decade has done more for Independent Schooling since the days of the Social Credit party in the late 70's and 80's when they wrote and passed the Independent School Act and made funding grants available for our schools. Even though the Social Credit party and government brought in that historical change it was the tiny BC Liberal party of 1973 who were the first to support Independent schools in their party platform. These last 10 years have been a time of prosperity and favour for Independent schools in our Province. Our funding hasn't been threatened in any way as it was throughout the nineties when the New Democratic Party formed the government. During their time of leadership in BC the party policy was explicitly against funding but the politicians in government never made it an issue. I recall a week in 1998 when one of the members was suggesting that it should come to debate on the floor of the legislature. FISA, I say more about this organization in a minute, organized a call and write in campaign that was one of the most significant campaigns to our government of that decade. Needless to say the government quickly assured us that they had no plans to change the funding structure. In fairness, to the present day NDP party, they have no statements for or against independent school funding in their present platform. The present Liberal government has opened up full funding for our Special Education students, allowed us into programs that were only available to public schools in the past such as Ready, Set, Learn, ACT, Scholarships and more. They were the ones who changed the school act to give Independent Schools the opportunity to operate Distributed Learning Schools thus we were able to start Heritage Christian Online School. Three years ago they opened up cross enrolment opportunities for DL schools and ensured that Independent schools had as much freedom to enrol any student from any BC high school in their courses as the public DL schools had. Thus we launched BC Online School which has enrolled over 5000 students in the last 3 years most of whom are from public campus high schools. It is because of this present government's support why I don't believe the motion even if it is carried by the BC Trustees Association won't carry much weight.

Here is a comment from one of our Staff who brings a unique perspective:

"Hi Greg, I'm so glad you brought this important issue of school funding to the limelight of your podcast. Living, while working for HCOS, in the Cowichan Valley (The school board bringing the motion to remove funds from independent schools) frustrates me.  Having taught both in Alberta and BC, I've seen two different school ministries and how they deal with independent schools.  In Alberta, the ATA (Alberta Teacher Association) also is against funding of independent schools. We have to remind ourselves that the funding received from the government is a blessing, and we should be thankful for the Lord's hand in our governments.  If it was left up to just human decisions, I do not think we would be living with such a blessing, instead, this funding comes directly to us from the Lord through our government.Yet, we can always use the rationale of the private school sector is a cost savings to the government.  But I think that is only part of the picture.  If it wasn't for the high standards of many of the independent schools, I feel the public system would not be as good as it is today.  Referring back to your podcasts of creating something unique to rise up and overtake the existing models.  Disrupting Class - by Chrisensen says it best...  We are part of a picture that will refine schools in BC and Canada for the better. Thank you again for your weekly podcasts. Blessings, Steve Bastian."

I completely agree with you Steve. Last week I made the pragmatic argument that removing funding from independent schools would actually cost the government approximately $150 to 200 million per year because of the returning students from independent schools into the public school system. Of course this wouldn't be a problem for the Trustees because this would mean they have both more students and more funding within their districts. Nevertheless, this would put a considerable greater burden upon the BC tax payer and the Provincial government. But Steve is right, there are many more reasons why we should lobby our government not to remove our funding. One of which Steve points out. We help bring the standards up in our Province as public schools have to compete for students. This has been abundantly obvious in both our campus schools as well as our DL schools. When we receive our Provincial exam results, these are the 5 compulsory exams and the voluntary Grade 12 exams, from the ministry we are measured by two benchmarks, public schools and independent schools. In every exam result Independent schools are on average 2-3% above the public averages. This is giving schools a higher benchmark to shoot for. This clearly shows how we bring the standards up in BC. Steve Bastian is one of our Special Education teachers with Heritage and will be the first to tell you that our Special Needs students receive a level of support an care that is setting standards for special education students. We work with over 140 Special Education students who receive Provincial funding in our schools and each student is treated with dignity and is given a personalized, approach to care in their education and particular needs. In our online education we have the largest program in the province, not the most students but the most FTE's, full tuition or funding equivalent. We are licensing our courseware to both public and independent schools and we have over three thousand cross enrolled students in BC Online Schools, the majority of which are from public high schools. Our success is a key indicator that we have a quality online program that is raising the bar for all online schools in the Province.

The Federation of Independent Schools Association, known by its acronym, FISA, has been the key organization that has led the charge for the last 45 years in working with government to fund and support independent schools. Our school and school association, ACSI, are an important part of FISA. ACSI, The Associated Christian Schools International, western Canadian branch, is part of the leadership of FISA and Heritage is reasonable for almost half of the DL students presently enrolled Independent Schools. It continues to this day to be one of the most significant and effective lobbying organizations in the BC Ministry of Education. They have worked hand in hand with government in guiding legislation, structure and support for our schools. In response to the District 79 motion for the Trustees meeting FISA published a brief but succinct list of eleven reasons for independent school funding:

1. "We seek to work co-operatively with the public sector. Why are we being attacked?"

The last podcast goes into more detail to the "why" question. We need to raise this question with anyone that will listen.

2. "Education offered by the independent sector is not "private education". It is education for the public good. All education, whether delivered by the public sector or independent sector benefits the individual (a private good) but also aims to create productive citizens (a public good)."

We have a phrase we say in our HCS promotional materials. "Heritage is a private school for the public and not the privileged." With funding we have been able to enrol students at a much lower tuition level in our campus school and we are able to enrol students in our online school without any tuition. Funding makes us much less elite and we can enrol students whose families would never be able to afford private school.

3. "Government's providing money to the non-government sector is a very common way for government to provide services for the public good. It does so in health care, in services for senior citizens, in services for pre-schoolers. Why shouldn't it not do so for K-12 education?"

4. "The money we receive is not a gift. It is payment for providing a public service. We teach the BC (public) curriculum. Our graduates qualify for the BC (public) graduation diploma."

Let's remember that our status as independent schools gives us to privilege to teach this curriculum with our religious bias and add to the curriculum. For example to graduate from Heritage you also need to complete 12 credits of Bible instruction. That's why the Province only funds 50% of our program.

5. "Parents have the prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children. Why do public school trustees propose to make this right more difficult to exercise?

6. "We are the tax payers and our taxes continue to support public education, even though we do not make use of the services of the public sector.

7. We deliver a service to the public, but at half the cost to the public as compared to the delivery of that service to the public by the public sector."

The argument is made by the District 79 Trustees is that we have opportunity to receive outside funding through tuition and fund raising. This is true for our campus school but in our DL school we rely completely on the 50% funding without charging any form of tuition. Interestingly we are able to run this program very successfully now for six years on half the dollar that our public school counterparts are receiving for their DL programs. Without this funding we would not be able to operate in the same capacity. We would have to dramatically alter this program. Remember that we are BC's largest DL school. We should also point out that Public schools can solicit outside funding for many of their programs. Correct they cannot charge tuition but they can fundraise on all levels.

8. We pay for our own land and buildings thereby relieving the government of capital expenditures.

As pointed out in last week's podcast this would put considerable pressure upon the public facilities if funding was to disappear. Something District 79 isn't taking into account with their motion.

9. The tuition we pay and donations we use for education puts money into the educational system, thereby providing more money for education than the government budgets.

10. Taking away our grants would cause a goodly number of students to shift to the public sector. This would increase the cost to a district, thereby wiping out any supposed relief on budgetary pressure of a district.

We thoroughly made this argument last week.

11 The government has determined the current level of funding is adequate. On what basis do trustees assume money take from us would be given to the public schools, rather than, say, to the Ministry of Heath, or the Ministry of Children and Families?

So these are FISA's eleven points on the funding issue. What can you do? First become versed in these and the many other arguments for independent school funding especially if you are on the staff of Heritage or one of our families. Discuss and practice these point around your kitchen table then when you hear someone, and you will hear someone, say, yeah, how come "private" schools get funding step into the debate in a loving yet informed manner. I would invite you to write your MLA's and encourage them to continue to support independent schools. Use two or three of the points you heard today. Don't be silent. It will be your silence in the long run that will allow the political environment to shift. Our Christian school movement is one of the strongest in all of the world. A big reason why is because Christian schools in Western Canada have had a 40 year relationship with their Provincial governments and God has moved upon our politicians to partner with us in education. This is something that we could lose if we are not holding these relationships with prayer and wisdom. Let your voice be heard.

One place you can let your voice be heard is on this podcast. Please email us your comments and thoughts on this podcast. Also, if you would like us to mail you a free copy of my book or send you the download link for the audio version of, Discipling This Generation for a Digital World, simply send an email to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it and let us know what type of an educator you are, home schooler, classroom teacher, school administrator, or interested parent. Please let us know how you heard about the podcast and, of course, please include your mailing address. Thank you for listening and thank you for your commitment to discipleship-based Christian education.