Pandemic-focused school fundraising goals threaten to widen inequalities

Students wear protective facemasks as they arrive for their first day of school at Mendel College, in Haarlem, The Netherlands.Instead of fundraising for playground structures, field trips and guest speakers, Canadian parents are turning their attention to raise money for plexiglass shields, cleaning supplies and air purifiers for their children’s schools.

Fundraising has always been a thorny issue in education. Some education experts have argued that the fundraising dollars parents pour into schools allow governments to underfund education. In Ontario, for example, guidelines prevent schools from spending that money on items that are publicly funded, such as classroom supplies and capital projects.

A report last year from the Ontario advocacy group, People for Education, found that the top 10 per cent of elementary schools ranked on their fundraising collected 33 times the amount of the schools in the bottom 10 per cent. Some schools reported collecting as much as $100,000.

There is a growing concern that schools could have different levels of protection from the coronavirus depending on the neighbourhood, said Ms. Chernos Lin, who is also a trustee representative on the TDSB’s Parent Involvement Advisory Committee. She said public dollars should pay for things such as proper ventilation in schools, windows that open and water-bottle refill stations.

Dr. Cargill acknowledges that such offers can lead to inequities in public education. “I want to help,” he said, adding that school boards can use the limited funds to equip other schools where parents may not have the ability to raise funds. “If I have the ability to organize my school to do this, fantastic. ... If there are schools in a lower socio-economic area, that’s where the government needs to step in.

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