Like candy from a baby

It’s become a regular sight door-to-door in many neighbourhoods and on Saturday mornings in shopping malls. Children selling chocolate bars to raise money for books, computers and other school essentials. From fundraising for textbooks and new fees for field trips to skyrocketing tuition, user fees threaten access to public education at all levels.

Between 1992 and 1997, average household spending on education increased by 45.4 per cent. In 1997 households spent an average of $1,499 on education expenses, a 14 per cent increase from 1996. At the same time, federal transfers continued to shrink and provincial and local government spending dropped in nearly every province.

The consequences play out in the classroom and beyond. Many elementary students are expected to bring their own supplies, including pencils, paper, glue, markers, crayons, rulers and dictionaries — a new and unwieldy burden, particularly for families on fixed incomes. Those parents who can’t afford to pay may see their children do without — or spend precious time fundraising among neighbours, family members and co-workers.

A 1998 survey of Ontario schools found 60 per cent reported children having to share textbooks and 76 per cent reported using worn or out of date texts. The same survey found an enormous increase in fundraising for library books, with 56 per cent of schools reporting fundraising during the 1998-99 school year. None had reported this the previous year.

In Saskatchewan, the estimated average user fee for school supplies is $50 per student. In Manitoba, a small increase in government education spending between 1992 and 1997 has not translated into more money for schools. In fact, operating grants to public schools have dropped steadily since 1989 and per student spending has declined 15 per cent in real dollars. To fill the gap, the average parent paid $660 in user fees for an elementary student and $915 for a high school student in 1998. Those fees include $250 for elementary lunch supervision, $80 in high school field trips, $100 for gym clothing for elementary and secondary students, and $75 for school supplies at both levels.