First Nations schools in Ontario need $10 K per student raise, PBO says

Canada's parliamentary budget officer says the Liberal government cannot explain how it calculates the amount of funding it spends on First Nations education or why it is nearly $600 million dollars less than the average provincial education system.

Jean-Denis Fréchette released his report, Federal Spending on Primary and Secondary Education on First Nations Reserves, on Tuesday.

It suggests that schools operated by First Nations in Ontario should receive between $21,000 to $25,000 per student, according to the Ontario funding formula. 

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• Federal funding gap disadvantages First Nations students, PBO says

The core federal allocation for children attending band-operated schools in Ontario was roughly $11,600 per student in 2014-15, according to the report.

The analysis was constrained by limited information from the federal government.

Here are three questions the parliamentary budget officer (PBO) said the report could not answer:

• 1. What are the factors influencing federal decisions about per-student funding?

"The PBO could not find any examples in Indigenous Affairs documents on how factors that influence per-student funding levels [for First Nations schools] are considered, or what meaningful information or funding comparisons would look like," the report says.

Provincial education systems have funding formulas that consider geography, the size of student population, socio-economic factors and special education needs.

When it comes to paying tuition to a provincial school board for First Nations students attending school off-reserve, the PBO report says federal government does take the provincial funding formula into consideration.

The report uses the example of the Superior Greenstone board in northern Ontario, which receives roughly $22,000 in tuition per First Nations student from the federal government.

In contrast, First Nations schools in the same area receive about $13,000 per student, according to an inquest earlier this year into the deaths of Indigenous students in Thunder Bay.

• 2. How did the Liberals decide on the amount of $2.6 billion for First Nations education in Budget 2016?

In 2004, the Auditor General recommended that Indigenous Affairs (then Indian Affairs) "obtain reliable and consistent information on the actual costs of delivering education and compare these costs with those of the provinces" and the department responded that it was doing that work," the parliamentary budget officer's report says.  

"But, Indigenous Affairs could not provide PBO with the costing analysis referenced in the Auditor General's Reports. In addition, detailed costing analysis in support of recent Budget 2016 announcements could not be provided," Tuesday's report says.

• 3. Will the $2.6 billion make a difference?

"PBO estimates that in the medium term, new Budget 2016 investments in education program spending could begin to address funding shortfalls for band-operated schools, the report says.

But the outcome is not certain.

"This would depend upon how new investments are allocated," the report says. "Funding formula methodologies used in the provinces may not fully address the reality of First Nations communities, but they represent a starting point that is both transparent and evidence-based."

Charlie Angus, the NDP MP who requested the independent analysis by the PBO, said it is imperative that the Liberals start to collect the data and devise a responsive system for allocating First Nations education money.