Canadians support tax increases for education...
Survey from the Canadian Education Association
This is a good summary of a recent survey that showed the majority of Canadians, including on the prairies, would support tax increases for education. We can use these numbers to counter the board's statement that "there is no climate for tax increases." The survey also showed most people prefer moderate, as opposed to major, changes to their schools.
Public Education in Canada: Facts, Trends and Attitudes
Dollars and Sense
The Cost Effectiveness of Small Schools
http://www.kwfdn.org/resource_library/_resources/dollars_sense.pdf
Bingler, Steven; Diamond, Barbara M.; Hill, Bobbie; Hoffman, Jerry L.; Howley, Craig B.; Lawrence, Barbara Kent; Mitchell, Stacy; Rudolph, David; Wash
(KnowledgeWorks Foundation, Cincinatti, OH; The Rural School and Community Trust, Washington, DC; Concordia, LLC, New Orleans, LA , 2002)
This publication summarizes research on the educational and social benefits of small schools and the negative effects of large schools on students, teachers, and members of the community, as well as the "diseconomies of scale" inherent in large schools. It asserts that research shows that measuring the cost of education by graduates rather than by all students who go through the system suggests that small schools are a wise investment. Using data drawn from 489 schools submitted to design competitions in 1990-2001, the publication concludes that small schools can be built cost effectively and that many districts are doing so. 31p.
School Consolidation and Transportation Policy
An Empirical and Institutional Analysis
http://www.ruraledu.org/docs/killeen_sipple.pdf
Killeen, Kieran; Sipple, John
(Rural School and Community Trust, Washington, D.C. , 2000)
This study examines the relationship between school consolidation and district transportation costs, effects on instructional expenditures, and institutional factors supporting consolidation. Data on actual student transportation costs across the United States indicate that despite widespread school and school district consolidation, transportation costs have increased, and transportation costs per child are greater in rural than urban school districts. Given the evidence that economy-of-scale arguments fail in rural school districts in terms of transportation costs, reasons beyond fiscal criteria must be driving consolidation.