A plan to eliminate the « three-speed school »

Five months before the Quebec elections, a citizens’ movement is proposing a plan to eliminate the “three-speed school” system that favors students with the best grades. Private schools that so wish would thus be 100% financed by the State, students would attend their neighborhood school and all establishments would have to offer specific projects.

Only « unconventioned » private schools, which would have no state subsidy, could select their students.

The École ensemble movement suggests this ambitious plan in the hope of making education one of the themes of the electoral battle that is beginning. Emeritus experts in education, including sociologist Guy Rocher, who was part of the Parent commission, support this proposed change of course.

This initiative aims to correct shortcomings in the Quebec school network, considered the most unequal in the country, according to the Superior Council of Education of Quebec. Subsidized private schools and public schools with special projects drain the best performing students. Pupils in difficulty are overrepresented in so-called ordinary classes, which amplifies the inequalities between advantaged and disadvantaged children.

“We have an unfair school system in Quebec. Subject to a market logic, schools compete to obtain the highest-paying students in terms of income and academic results. By allowing subsidized private schools and selective public schools to choose their population, this system creates few winners and many losers,” argues Claude Lessard, professor emeritus in education at the Université de Montréal.

This expert led the 2016 report of the Superior Council of Education, which concluded that the Quebec school system is the most unequal in Canada. The market share of the private network at the secondary level has increased from 5% in 1970 to approximately 21% in the last decade. In Montreal and Quebec, four out of ten students attend private secondary schools. It should be added to this that at least 20% of students are enrolled in a selective project in public secondary.

However, « research has been telling us for a long time: the more the classes are diversified between boys and girls, between advantaged and disadvantaged pupils, between strong and weak pupils, between pupils of various ethnic origins, the higher the success rate of all young people is increasing », insists Claude Lessard.

Fees charged to parents

Under the plan unveiled Monday morning, all state-funded schools should give priority to students from their neighborhood. Schools could no longer select students based on their academic results. All schools should offer special free projects for parents. To do this, a fifth period would be added to the schedule by reducing the duration of the four existing periods by 15 minutes.

The Minister of Education, Jean-François Roberge, undertook last week to mark out the fees charged to parents for access to specific projects (in sports, arts or computer science, for example). Without going so far as to promise free admission, he indicated that he would soon announce a measure to “facilitate access” to these highly motivating programs for young people, regardless of parental income.

Stéphane Vigneault, coordinator of the École ensemble movement, welcomed the intention of Quebec as a step in the right direction, but he believes that the government must give a real boost and eliminate subsidies to private schools. “Despite commendable initiatives in the public network, we still come up against competition from private schools,” he says.

A profitable proposition

Private schools that choose to join the “common network” would be 100% financed by the state, as in Finland (where the former private schools have been public since 1972). These establishments could retain their current structure, with a board of directors independent of the school service centres, but would have to accept students from their neighborhood free of charge.

“Non-conventioned” private schools could select their clients, but would no longer receive any public funds. Parents would pay the entire bill, which would increase significantly. This would consequently reduce attendance at these establishments, as in Ontario and elsewhere in the country.

Ultimately, this model would result in annual savings of $100 million, according to a study commissioned from economist François Delorme of the University of Sherbrooke.

“The current situation of a three-tier system is downright untenable. The quality of the proposal presented by École ensemble deserves to be underlined. It truly, and very concretely, advances the debate on the future of our school system and on equal opportunities, which must be a fundamental pillar,” reacted PQ MNA Véronique Hivon.

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