Should Taxpayers Pay for Private School?

Liberal MLA Hugh MacDonald recently exposed that several of the provincial government's Ministry of International and Intergovernmental Relations employees charge the bill for their kids’ private school tuition as expenses. In 2008-2009, taxpayers covered more than 326,912 dollars in private school tuition for no more than nine students, all children of government employees who work for the Ministry of International and Intergovernmental Relations. Alberta Minister-Counsellor Gary Mar’s child enjoyed a fine year of education in Washington at the Washington International School, at the not-at-all low cost of 58,726 dollars. Of course, International and Intergovernmental Relations employees must send their children to schools that can provide a decent education. But do they have to pick schools that charge the equivalent of what an undergraduate degree costs in tuition?

MacDonald believes the solution to this outrageous misuse of tax dollars is to eliminate the provincial government's Ministry of International and Intergovernmental Relations department. By removing this department, the government would save not only the money being spent on tuition but also salaries and other expenses, for an annual savings of about 24 million dollars a year, money which could go towards public school boards or hospitals, says MacDonald. Many argue the Ministry of International and Intergovernmental Relations is ineffective at best, evidenced by the downward spiral of Alberta’s international trade. Eliminating the department would provide a quick influx of funds for a province in need of more money and less cuts.

However, at the moment, it isn’t a matter or whether or not the department is doing the job it is set up to do. After all, if we eliminated a government department every time someone failed to get the job done correctly, we’d have no health minister, or prime minister, for that matter. The big problem is the huge difference in what the department claims it spends on tuition for the nine children of International and Intergovernmental Relations employees and what the documents from Public Accounts of Alberta say was actually spent. The ministry claims an average of 24,000 dollars a year is spent on tuition for the nine children of the employees who work at the ministry’s nine international offices. The documents say otherwise. Why the discrepancy? Why allow government employees to spend 15 times the amount on tuition then the ministry has actually accounted for? The Ministry of International and Intergovernmental Relations department does not need to be eliminated at this time. Instead, the provincial government has a responsibility to ensure that in the future government employees are not funding their children’s tuition with taxpayers’ money.

The recent discovery that taxpayers’ money is funding the private education of the children of some government employees has raised questions about who exactly should be responsible for paying for private schools. Almost anyone who has ever dragged their ass through 12 years (13, if you count that crucial year of kindergarten) of public school can tell you it’s not without flaws. Sure, going to public school means never having to wear one of those ridiculous uniforms but the perks sort of end there. Private schools offer students many benefits, the kind of benefits a former public school kid like me can only imagine. The closest most kids get to private school is watching the Upper East Side elite on Gossip Girl every Monday night. Mind you, I’m not saying private schools should not exist. Private schools offer an alternative education to those who can afford it, or sacrifice many other things to afford it. However, those who do not get to benefit from the hallowed halls and superior cafeteria food of private schools should not pay the price for those who do get to don ties and Burberry knee socks every day. Private schools are small and distinguished for a reason: students pay for the privilege of attending these fine institutions. Children whose families cannot afford, or chose not to pay for, a private education make due with the bad lighting and ugly painted walls of public schools. Asking the parent’s of public school kids to financially contribute to private schools is like asking someone to buy the kid next door a brand-new convertible while their own kid only has a scooter. It’s not only mean but also counterintuitive. Taxpayers should not have to fund private schools, especially while public schools are facing potential devastating cuts. Private schools are a choice; public schools are a necessity. Public schools may be less charming then private institutions but they get the job done just fine.