Ontario Tories promise support for faith-based schools
Administrators at Christian schools across the province are cautiously optimistic after Ontario's Progressive Conservative Party promised to raise the issue of providing financial aid to parents with children in faith-based schools during the next election.
The announcement came from party leader John Tory in February at the end of a three-day conference to set party policy for the upcoming campaign.
While no specific details have been released as to exactly how or in what form the aid would come, Tory was quoted in press reports as saying he is "completely and totally committed" to ensuring part of their platform for the next election is a policy that addresses "the fairness issue for independent schools.
"The issue of fairness more starkly presents itself when you are dealing with faith-based schools as opposed to others," he said.
Currently, only the province's public and Roman Catholic schools receive full and direct public funding, a situation labelled "discriminatory" by a United Nations Human Rights Committee in 1999.
Joy Elliott, principal of Mississauga Christian Academy, an independent school of 700 children from preschool to Grade 8 in Mississauga, Ontario, says while the families of her students "would certainly appreciate" any financial assistance, "we only take [these types of announcements] with a grain of salt."
Her skepticism is due, she says, to the fact that a system of phased-in private school tax credits was announced once before in 2001 under the Mike Harris Conservatives. Once fully phased in, the credit would have provided up to $3,500 per student annually, for tuitions up to $7,000. But the Liberals scuttled the plan in 2003 after winning the election.
At Thunder Bay Christian School in Thunder Bay, Ontario, where annual tuition costs $8,500 per family, principal Al Bron says there's an "assumption" among the public that independent schools are for "the elite and the well-to-do." But the majority of families that support his school are middle-income earners, who have made the choice for a Christian faith-based education, and it's "tough for them to be supporting the school financially."
The situation is the same at Maranatha Christian Academy in Windsor, Ontario, where principal William Van Dyke says, "some of our people here are dipping into their bread and butter money to make these [tuition] payments." A tax credit, he says, would "mean a great deal" to such families. Van Dyke adds that enrolments have dropped since 2002 and that many of the families who left mentioned finances as their reason.
The Ontario Alliance of Christian Schools represents 74 schools with more than 13,000 students from junior kindergarten to Grade 12 across the province. Director of communications John Vanasselt says introducing a tax credit "will be extremely helpful to a large number of families that are having a difficult time affording" faith-based schooling for their children.
He predicts such a measure could also have a stabilizing influence on enrolments. "The last two or three years haven't been very kind to most independent schools in the province," says Vanasselt. "The numbers of students at independent schools have decreased significantly in the last couple of years."
While critics argue that any financial support for independent schools will take valued dollars away from an already struggling public system, Vanasselt says implementing a tax credit is really all about providing choice to parents.
"It's not just the money. It's also the notion that the tax credit is in fact family-friendly legislation in that it supports parents and the choices they make. I'm not against sending money to schools in the way they do in [other provinces] but I believe it's a different mechanism.
"The tax credit comes way after the fact. The parents have to pay the tuition and it's not until the following year that they can claim the refund. So I think what it does is it creates more support for parental choice. There are lots of social benefits to doing it this way."
Oakville, Ontario resident Heather Cushing has three children, a preschooler and two elementary school aged children who are enrolled in a private, Christian school. While Cushing says she and her husband "love the fact that things are taught from a biblical perspective," their choice to provide a Christian education for their children comes with a hefty price tag; one that costs the Cushings approximately $10,000 per year.
"We kind of evaluate it year by year to be honest, because it's a financial stretch for us to be sure," says Cushing. A tax credit "would certainly help. Really, we're paying twice, because we pay our taxes. And to get a bit of a break would recognize that [private, faith-based schooling] is a viable alternative."
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