Private school funding draws attention during STF education forum

Candidates answer questions in STF virtual forum WATCH: STF held a virtual election forum on education, giving candidates in the provincial election a chance to share their thoughts.

The Saskatchewan Teachers' Federation hosted a virtual election forum on education Thursday evening, giving candidates in the provincial election a chance to share their thoughts and answer questions on issues teachers find most important.

Representatives from six of the seven registered parties were included in the roughly 90-minute forum. The Saskatchewan United Party was the lone party not to participate. Topics included per-student education funding, violence in the classroom, and class size.

However, one topic that generated plenty of discussion and was asked for by many teachers was public funding for private education.

"Our position has always been that any school receiving public dollars needs to uphold public values. And most importantly, the Saskatchewan human rights code," former education critic and NDP candidate Matt Love said.

"We have a government -- it's been very clear, they've increased investment in private education several times more than they have in our public systems."

The Saskatchewan Teachers' Federation says funding to independent schools increased by 79 per cent from 2020-21 to 2024-25, while public school funding increased by 13 per cent over the same time period.

Former Minister of Education and Saskatchewan Party candidate Jeremy Cockrill said the province is comfortable with its funding levels right now, and that some private schools receive a fraction of funding that public, catholic, or francophone schools receive.

"Certainly, we believe that every child should have access to safe and quality education here in the province, whether that's public or Catholic or francophone education or independent schools," Cockrill said.

"Our party would continue to fund independent schools at the current rate."

The provincial structure of private schools has changed in recent years. Currently, there are six categories: registered independent schools, alternative independent schools, associate schools, historical high schools qualified independent schools, and certified independent schools.

According to the provincial education website, all qualified independent schools and historical high schools are registered not for profits.

In the 2022-23 school year, the province created the certified independent school category, which receives 75 per cent of the average per student rate. Qualified independent schools receive 50 per cent of the average per student rate. At the time, the province said the new category "creates an intermediate step between Qualified Independent Schools and Associate Schools that will allow these schools to continue to grow and serve the needs of Saskatchewan students."

Love says that shuffle is a deliberate move from the Saskatchewan Party government to make oversight more difficult.

"It was designed with a set of regulations allowing these schools to have really incredible independence and independence from any accountability for the public for how those dollars are spent and the quality of education delivered for their students," Love said.

"We've learned of schools that are not following the curriculum, that are not protecting students, that are not being transparent with their finances."

The level of accountability, oversight, and quality of education of independent schools came under scrutiny following a series of historical abuse allegations, and a lawsuit filed by dozens of former students of Christian Centre Academy. The school renamed itself Legacy Christian Academy, and again changed its name and incorporated as Valour Academy on July 31, 2023.

Associate schools are part of public school divisions, and Cockrill says that comes with added layers of accountability, but Love says that framework doesn't exist for the other categories of independent schools.

Regardless, Cockrill says he and his party are committed to providing private schools as a choice for parents.

"You know, the reality is that we believe that parents, at the end of the day should have the choice of where their children go to school," he said.

Cockrill said the biggest reason for investing more in private education in recent years is because of enrollment growth, and when asked by the forum moderator about added accountability, Cockrill said he would welcome the opportunities.

"Hopefully we'll have the opportunity to ensure that choice is available to parents in whatever community they live in, but also ensure that there is stronger accountability going forward," he said.

Love wouldn't commit to cutting funding for private schools, but he welcomes any potential tweaks.

"They're not hiring professional teachers, they're not accountable to the public, their finances cannot be audited," Love said. "They're completely independent, yet they're getting massive amounts of public funds -- people should have questions about this system."