The share of K-12 students enrolled at independent schools across Canada increased in every province over a recent 19-year period, while the share of students enrolled in government schools declined, according to a new study released by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan Canadian public policy think-tank.
"For their children's education, parents across Canada are increasingly choosing options outside the government school system," said Michael Zwaagstra, senior fellow with the Fraser Institute and co-author of Where Our Students Are Educated: Measuring Student Enrolment in Canada, 2022.
The study finds that, as a share of all K-12 students, enrolment increased at independent schools in all provinces and decreased for government schools everywhere from 2000/01 to 2019/20, the most recent year of available comparable data.
Across Canada, the share of students enrolled in independent schools in 2019/20 ranged from 13.2 per cent in B.C. to 1.0 per cent in New Brunswick.
Five provinces B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Quebec partially fund the operating costs of independent schools while the other provinces offer no financial support.
"While education is funded and delivered differently across the provinces, the evidence is clear Canadian parents are increasingly looking to independent schools for more choice in how their children are educated," said Zwaagstra.
Independent school enrolment, as a share of total enrolment, by province, 2019/20:
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