Comments paultoronto has made

equal funding 1st , school choice 2nd

I teach at an inner city school, Riverdale Collegiate ( yes, we do have an Archie!) in Toronto. The surrounding neighbourhood is made up of  many new Canadians with relatively low income, urban homesteaders and a smattering of established professionals, politicians and rock stars. It is a typical streetcar suburb of the city (as discussed in The End of Suburbia, a model for new urbanism). Although the area is relatively poor the school is the educational institution of choice in the area. It is always over-enroled and has a strong reputation as the most academically progressive school in the area. Over 60% of graduates go on to postsecondary education. The structure was rebuilt 10 years ago as a beautiful and bright place to learn and work. How can this great success happen in an area with a per household income of less than $50000 CDN? Sharing. The school districts are equally funded on a per student basis, about $7000 per student, paid for by the province of Ontario and the federal government.  We all learned to share in kindergarten. As adults we tend to forget this lesson. Perhaps a paradigm shift of this sort will help heal the urban-suburban rift in the USA. If schools and opportunities are equalized people will not feel the need to flee to the burbs. On School choice could be an answer to sprawl posted 4 years, 1 month ago 24 Responses