What value should we ascribe to the cost of an Alberta high school education? In seeking to have our children be resilient and capable thinkers, with the competencies and skills required to address the challenges of our changing world, surely there must be an amount of funding that taxpayers could agree upon?
Renowned American opinion columnist Sydney J. Harris once commented that: “the whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows.” I have reflected upon these words a great deal, particularly in light of the government’s recent decision to change the maximum number of high school credits that will be funded from 60 to 45.
Our government funds school jurisdictions, not individual schools. Based on the Carnegie Unit, which requires 25 hours of instruction per high school credit, a set dollar amount is allocated for every credit a student earns, the value depending on the particular course. Typically courses are five or three credit offerings. High school budgets are based upon the projected amount of credits that students will earn.
A high school student with a full timetable will typically earn 40 to 45 credits. Many students typically earn well above 45 credits. Students earn additional credits through summer school, online courses, or other alternative means.
Some students may earn fewer credits depending on their programming or scheduling needs. High schools rely on predictable and sustainable funding in order to meet the diverse and complex needs of programming. Being paid for up to 60 credits certainly helps to offset costs of school-based programming needs. The reduction to 45 will have consequences.
With more than 200 Alberta high schools involved in the Moving Forward with High School Redesign pilot (MFWSHR) the majority of these schools are funded on a three-year average of credits earned. MFWHSR seeks to increase learner engagement through the removal of the Carnegie Unit. This has been liberating. With increased focus on personalization, mastery learning, rigorous and relevant curriculum, and richer assessment practice, students can access multiple pathways to achieve credentials. For the most part, participating schools will not be greatly impacted by the reduction. But it is a reduction nonetheless.
Those who will be impacted however, are the smaller elementary and junior high schools, district programs, and other central supports that depend on receiving some of the Carnegie funding, which is taken off the top. High schools, in seeking to be more flexible, may now be restricted because of the move from 60 to 45. MFWHSR becomes more challenging.
We need to ensure that predictable and sustainable funding is at the forefront of creating optimal conditions for learner success. Providing a broader and richer experience over the three or more years of high school ultimately gives us a better, more capable society. Perhaps moving to a model where every student in the province receives a consistent allocation is in order.
Perhaps a longer look in the mirror about the 60 to 45 is in order?
Sydney J. Harris reminds us: “Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time; it is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable.”
Tim Cusack is an educator, writer, and member of the Naval Reserve.
