Education spending rises across the country
Posted Feb 12, 2015 7:01 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Class sizes growing, cancelled programs, and announced education funding cuts may lead most to believe school spending is down across the country, but a new report from the Fraser Institute counters that theory.
The report shows spending across the country on public schools jumped to nearly $60-billion from $39-billion over the 10 year period starting in the 2001/02 school year.
What came as a shock to the Fraser Institutes Deani Van Pelt was the fact spending went up about 53-per cent, while enrollment dropped over six-per cent.
“That was quite surprising to us,” she said. “To see that when you look at the number of students served it made the situation seem even more indulgent”.
Cost per student over the ten years rose from about $7,200 to almost $12,000 nation-wide.
Alberta is the only province where enrollment went up, rising by 5.4-per cent. It also led the country in spending increases; up 92.4-per cent.
