What the MacKinnon Report says |
[the current public education system] does not incent efficiency or reward innovation, performance and outcomes. |
Why this is concerning for public education |
The MacKinnon report echoes similar language to that used in the controversial US "Race to the Top" initiative: "grants were awarded points for enacting certain educational policies, instituting performance-based evaluations for teachers and principals based on multiple measures of educator effectiveness (tied to targeted professional development and feedback), adopting common standards"
Coupling education funding to "performance and outcomes" necessitates absolute measurement, and consequently more high-stakes standardized testing. Research has shown that over-emphasis on high-stakes standardized can lead to harmful practices, such as academic streaming, teaching to the test, and potentially selecting students to improve test results. “Kids are not quality control, they are not products. You cannot measure them with one ruler... This is code for more standardized testing, more teaching to testing and more high-stakes competition... It means less equitable funding and more barriers to education funding — undermine, underfund and then privatize.” |
What the MacKinnon Report says |
the total amount of funding [Alberta] Government spends on education is not out of line with comparable provinces |
Why this is concerning for public education |
The MacKinnon Report actually makes it clear that Alberta does not spend more per student than Ontario or Quebec. However, this finding is likely to be glossed-over by those seeking to use the report as justification for harmful cuts to education.
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MacKinnon Report Recommendation #6 |
Completely review and revise the current education funding formula to ensure enrollment growth is addressed and to provide incentives for sharing services and achieving better education outcomes for students. |
Why this is concerning for public education |
Linking funding to student performance and outcomes promotes inequality, and dis-proportionally harm our most vulnerable students.
The suggestion to "completely review and revise its current education funding formula" opens the door to a full voucher system, which undermines the fundamental principal of accessible and equitable public education. |
What the MacKinnon Report says |
Work with education stakeholders to decrease the percentage of government funding that goes to administration and governance (currently 24.6%) to a level comparable to British Columbia (17%). |
Why this is concerning for public education |
Recommendation #5 is based on a calculation of education administration and governance that places Alberta's proportion at 24.6%. However, Alberta Education’s Funding Manual for School Authorities 2017/2018 School Year states: “The maximum expenditure for system administration and school board governance will range from 3.6 percent to 5.4 percent depending on the student enrollment of the school jurisdiction.”
If Dr. MacKinnon and the panel have evidence that Alberta school boards are spending beyond these limits, more details should be provided to the public. |
We call upon the Government of Alberta to:
sustain funding for Alberta public education and continue to fund enrollment growth; and protect equitable education and our most vulnerable students by rejecting funding based on student performance and outcomes