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In Canada, the Provincial Ministries of Education had mandated that everyone financially support education through property taxes. The rate of support is tied to property ownership, whether or not a family has a child enrolled in the education system, or is being educated through home-schooling, private schooling, or by other allowable means. On May 16, 2001, the mandate was modified so that parents who send their children to private independent schools would receive a tax credit. This paper analyzes potential consequences of this tax modification. The tax credit was opted for by parents and is not a credit provided within the portfolio of the Ministry of Education. It is designed to offset instructional costs only, which are the prime focus for educational grants to schools. The benefit obtained is dependent on parental choice to opt out of the public school system, the number of eligible students the parents have, the opting into an identified eligible school, and the eligible student engaged in an eligible course of study. A formula calculates the eligible tuition per child using taxable income as a significant parameter. The possibility of the formula creating inequity is discussed. At this time, consequences of the tax credit remain unknown. (RT)

The study reported in this paper looked at the manner in which education in Canada is being financially supported and the potential consequences this support will have for the future. For the most part, Canadian provinces have in-place funding mechanisms that put them in sole control of finances; local fiscal autonomy has all but disappeared. Canadian courts have said essentially that provincial governments have the right the change the funding of education as long as the change results in a fair and nondiscriminatory distribution of funds. The generation and allocation of funds for public education appear to have been replaced in priority with local use of funds and the professional competence of educators. This shift in priority has the potential to affect to a significant degree the current and upcoming generation of students more than the more traditional priority of funding alone. Equity of educational opportunity not only demands fiscal equalization, but also education equalization--both must work together in practice. This study concludes that the finances for public education in Canada are not in bad shape. What is slowing progress, however, is the friction among those within the system and those interacting with the system. This is a communication problem, not a finance problem. (DFR)

Financial support of elementary and secondary education in Canada has gone from absolute local dependence to local with some government support to local with substantial government support to current total government support with restricted, if any allowed, local support. This has been challenged on constitutional grounds in two provinces, Alberta and Ontario, by the Roman Catholic separate school system. This system does not receive support as the public school system and, in addition, has certain legally protected constitutional rights. The Roman Catholic school system seeks the inclusion of local taxation in these rights. The paper describes current funding and funding sources for each of the provinces and territories. (DFR)

This paper provides an update of the financial reforms that took effect in the province of Ontario for the 1998-99 year. During the 1998-99 school year, a student-focused funding model for the distribution of money to elementary and secondary education was introduced. The model was based on students' needs rather than the local community's wealth and replaced the former 34 different types of grants with eleven kinds of funding, including foundation grants, special-purpose grants, special-education grants, language grants, early-learning grants, learning-opportunities grants, geographic and school authorities grants, teacher-compensation grants, adult- and continuing-education grants, transportation grants, school-board administration and governance grants, and pupil-accommodation grants. The new funding mechanism provided more fiscal accountability to taxpayers. This new approach to funding education included a class-size protection fund and funding for additional teachers. Adjustments to allocated funding were dictated by the needs of school boards, which were trying to meet many of the new conditions set by the government. This need for adjustments signaled that the government was moving more quickly than the education system could reasonably be required to respond. (RJM)

Although Ontario's Ministry of Education and Training has been overseen by two different parties since 1995, the direction for education in the province has been steady. An overview of two bills that are guiding education reform, Bill 104 and Bill 160, and their financial implications is presented. Bill 104, the Fewer School Boards Act, purports to improve the accountability, effectiveness, and quality of Ontario's school system. It gives government the regulatory power to establish new school boards, to name the boards, to determine the number of trustees for each board, and to make other changes. Bill 160, entitled the Education Quality Improvement Act, altered other acts and provided for reforms in education governance, education finance, and education labor relations. The latter bill prompted the teachers' federation to threaten a provincewide strike if Bill 160's recommendations for class size, teaching times, budget cuts, and other issues passed unchanged. The reforms have raised many questions regarding educational finances and have angered teachers and parents. But the acts conform to the government's move to centralize resources and to focus on the equality of education funding as opposed to the equity of education funding. An example of the government's Foundation Grant for Education is provided in an appendix. (RJM)

The role of the Canadian federal government in financing Canadian post-secondary education is described. Current policies have their origins in the 1967 establishment of a federal/provincial shared-cost arrangement. Later, a change in policy diminished the federal presence in post-secondary educational finance and placed institutions in competition with health services for funds from the provinces. Specific funding from the federal government is still available through grants and contributions from specific federal ministries. Of the 46 ministries, the following 15 are providing direct support for various research and educational projects in 1991-92: Indian Affairs and Northern Development; Industry, Science and Technology; Justice; National Defence; National Health and Welfare; Transport; Secretary of State of Canada; Solicitor General of Canada; Agriculture; Employment and Immigration; Energy, Mines and Resources; Environment; External Affairs; Finance; and Forestry. In addition, the Privy Council Department (one of nine bodies making up the Privy Council) also make funds available to post-secondary institutions, while the National Science and Engineering Research Council, the Medical Research Council, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council allocate funds for post-secondary education totaling $795 million. Overall, though reduced, the federal presence in post-secondary education is still significant. The extent and nature of the involvement of each ministry is detailed in the paper. Nine references are included. (JB)

A study examined effects of early retirement plans (ERP) at Canadian Universities. In response to current conditions within Canadian universities and a Canadian Supreme Court decision upholding mandatory retirement requirements, many universities have sought to encourage faculty retirement through ERPs. In order to study the cost of such programs, a survey was distributed to 58 Canadian universities. Twenty-seven institutions responded and of those 14 (24 percent) had ERP in place and operating long enough to participate in the study. Although this number was low, the institutions were representative. Results indicated that only one institution found the plan to be of greater financial cost than anticipated. Only two institutions found their ERP less of a financial burden than initially anticipated due to few faculty opting for the more expensive options and performance of investment being greater than anticipated. Few institutions were able or willing to specifically state the added expense of their ERP but those that did listed the following as added expenses: (1) payroll taxes; (2) use of savings for increased operating expenses; and (3) potential cost in university pension plan. Overall, most respondents believed that the predicted costs and savings of early retirement plans were borne out in practice. Six references and an appendix containing four sample survey questions are included. (JB)

Because an option for early retirement in Canadian Universities has created a need to know more about the vacancies early retirement creates and the potential to fill these vacancies, a survey of 15 representative universities was conducted. The sample included institutions of faculty numbering less than 100 to institutions of faculty numbering more than 1,200. The data revealed that the early retirees are primarily males motivated to retire early for a variety of reasons: availability of plans, diminished job satisfaction, health, climatic condition of the city, burn-out, desire to move to a retirement home, incompatibility, family, advantages of the plan, personal and institution's dissatisfaction, financial considerations, personal reasons, uncomfortable work station, expectation of university regarding scholarly activities, pursuit of other interests while drawing a pension and other career opportunities. Their value to the university was dispersed throughout the faculty members' teaching research and service duties. Projected areas of critical shortage due to early retirement are accounting, economics, engineering, computer science, commerce, administration, and psychology. Institutions offered a variety of predictions as to their ability to fill vacancies that would be created from 1990 to 1995. (JB)

The fairness of equalization formulas adopted by the government of Manitoba (Canada) is assessed. A conclusion is that although the concept of equalization is equitable, implementation of the policy is problematic. Limitations of the current equalization formula are that property assessment per pupil is an invalid index of fiscal capacity; enrollment and assessment per student are dependent variables; and rural and urban labels are insufficient descriptors. (LMI)

Because contemporary society accepts inequalities in income and social privilege, its tolerance for the varied and divergent educational consumption of its citizens is understandable. However, the acceptance of a dual educational system by parents, local authorities, and governments has implications for government involvement and educational finance. Any shift of pupils from the public to the private school sector will generate fewer dollars per pupil for public education, with associated repercussions for staffing and programming. This paper examines the "riffling" effect within a publicly supported dual school system in Canada and in Australia in relation to (1) financial assistance; (2) enrollment shifts; (3) staffing patterns; and (4) programmatic considerations. Recently there has been a mounting provision of support to both public and private school sectors and an enrollment shift favoring private schools in both countries. Regarding staffing patterns, Canada has shown an increase in private school teacher employment and a decrease in public school teacher employment, while Australia's teaching population has steadily risen in both sectors, but with a sharper rate of increase in the private sector. Programmatic and ideological elements are linked to three factors (funding sources, funding stability, and established spending patterns) and raise many unresolved questions. The support of both public and private school systems from the diminishing pool of funds potentially moves both systems toward mere survival. The apparently healthy compromise between parental choice and government responsibility may further disperse available educational resources. Appended are 2 tables and 11 references. (MLH)