Amalgamating School Divisions Won't Increase
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
(FB015) MARCH 2003 AMALGAMATING SCHOOL DIVISIONS WON’T INCREASE EFFICIENCY Larger is not Cheaper Executive Summary ¨ The Manitoba government recently reduced the total number of school divisions in the province from 54 to 37. Its main purpose so was to save costs on administration. ¨ The Manitoba FRAME report provides a yearly accounting of school division spending. If larger school divisions are more efficient than smaller divisions, the difference would be expected to show up in the FRAME data. ¨ Ti ny school divisions (under 1000 students) do have higher per pupil expenditure rates and administration costs. However, the vast majority of divisions (those with more than 1000 students) show very little relationship between size and rates of spending. ¨ The largest school division in the province, Winnipeg School Division #1, has very high per pupil costs while much smaller divisions within the city have much lower per pupil costs. ¨ Some mid-sized school divisions like Hanover and Garden Valley have very low per-pupil expenditures and administrative costs. Emulating examples like these makes more sense than simply creating larger divisions. ¨ The school board model itself, with its diffuse funding sources , lies at the heart of the problem. It is time to think about a more transparent and accountable model. Introduction The Manitoba government recently reduced the total number of school divisions from 54 to 37. Its stated purpose for doing so was to improve efficiency and save money on administrative costs. This backgrounder will compare the spending habits of school divisions and attempt to determine whether or not there is a relationship between larger size and higher efficiency. A number of school divisions and school districts are not included in this comparison. Due to their immense geographical sizes and other unique challenges, data from Frontier School Division #48 and D.S.F.M. are not applicable. For the same reasons the following remote school districts are also not included: Churchill #2264 Snow Lake #2309 Lynn Lake #2312 Sprague Consolidated #2439 Leaf Rapids #2460 All of these school districts, except Sprague, are located in the north, have very small student populations and have only one school. Several of these towns, particularly Leaf Rapids and Lynn Lake, have experienced substantial declines in population. Since they had a small student population base to begin with, this has the effect of skewing per pupil spending estimates, and makes comparisons with other divisions less informative. The remaining 45 school divisions are included in this study. For each of these divisions, the following charts are provided1: 1) Total Number of Students and Annual Budget It is important to know how many students are enrolled in each division and what each division’s annual budget is. 2) Expenditures per Pupil Per pupil expenditures are an important gauge of how efficiently a division spends its money. They make fair comparisons among school divisions possible. 3) School Division Administration Expenditures Every school division allocates some of its budget to administration expenses. However, some divisions spend a larger percentage of their budget on this item than others. One of the key rationales for amalgamating smaller school divisions is the reduction of these costs. 4) Ranking School Divisions 1 All statistics from the 2001-2002 Frame (Financial Reporting and Accounting in Manitoba Education) Report. See http://www.edu.gov.mb.ca/ks4/finance/facts/index.html Page 1 ã2002 Published by the Frontier Centre for Public Policy, 201-63 Albert Street · Winnipeg, Manitoba CANADA R3B 1G4 ·Tel: (204) 957-1567 Fax: (204) 957-1570 · E-mail: [email protected] · Website: www.fcpp.org With these three measurements, it is possible to compare all the school divisions and attempt to determine which are the most cost efficient and which are the highest spenders. It should also be possible to determine whether or not there is any relationship between larger school divisions and higher efficiency. Size of Division vs. Cost Per Student Total Students and Annual Budget (2001-02) Expenditures Per Pupil (2001-02 Budget) School Division Number of Total School Division Cost per Ranking (ranked by total Students Expenditures pupil based on size number of pupils) (full-time equivalent) Winnipeg 30,620.0 $234,944,300 Prairie Spirit $8,071 23 River East 12,643.5 82,114,69 2 Turtle River 8,063 42 St. James -Assiniboia 9,193.1 59,759,491 Antler River 7,938 43 St. Vital 8,872.0 57,328,920 Duck Mountain 7,852 44 Seven Oaks 8,671.0 60,783,966 Red River 7,803 45 Transcona-Springfield 7,724.5 53,413,216 White Horse Plain 7,792 38 Brandon 7,455.0 45,196.900 Winnipeg 7,673 1 Fort Garry 7,143.7 51,440,564 Fort la Bosse 7,465 27 Hanover 6,180.0 33,499,785 Mountain 7,397 40 St. Boniface 5,890.9 41,386,417 Swan Valley 7,356 21 Assiniboine South 5,855.0 41,620,185 Birdtail River 7,355 35 Lord Selkirk 4,629.0 31,917,173 Souris Valley 7,289 36 Portage La Prairie 3,589.5 22,879,974 Turtle Mountain 7,271 34 Mystery Lake 3,525.5 24,597,241 Boundary 7,219 41 Seine River 3,419.0 23,458,540 Intermountain 7,211 37 Interlake 3,417.2 22,388,000 Fort Garry 7,201 8 Garden Valley 2,821.5 16,249,150 Rolling River 7,164 19 Agassiz 2,702.5 19,028,440 Evergreen 7,140 25 Rolling River 2,150.0 15,402,500 Assiniboine South 7,108 11 Kelsey 1,918.5 11,924,015 Pelly Trail 7,100 39 Swan Valley 1,909.1 14,042,557 Lakeshore 7,079 32 Dauphin-Ochre 1,839.5 12,982,573 Pine Creek 7,069 31 Prairie Spirit 1,808.0 14,591,600 Dauphin-Ochre 7,058 22 Morris-Macdonald 1,802.5 12,192,500 Agassiz 7,041 18 Evergreen 1,690.5 12,070,083 St. Boniface 7,025 10 Beautiful Plains 1,655.0 10,905,624 Seven Oaks 7,010 5 Fort la Bosse 1,635.5 12,208,940 Flin Flon 6,953 28 Flin Flon 1,509.5 10,495,374 Mystery Lake 6,977 14 Midland 1,467.5 10,184,614 Midland 6,940 29 Western 1,453.0 8,985,338 Lord Selkirk 6,895 12 Lakeshore 1,432.0 10,144,188 Seine River 6,861 15 Rhineland 1,371.5 8,966,375 Morris-Macdonald 6,764 24 Pine Creek 1,326.0 9,374,112 Transcona-Springfield 6,656 6 Turtle Mountain 1,254.5 9,121,059 Beautiful Plains 6,590 26 Birdtail River 1,240.8 9,126,370 Interlake 6,552 16 Souris Valley 1,095.0 7,981,621 Rhineland 6,538 32 Intermountain 1,053.0 7,523,025 St. James -Assiniboia 6,500 3 White Horse Plain 1,004.0 7,823,505 River East 6,495 2 Pelly Trail 966.5 6,861,673 St. Vital 6,462 4 Mountain 841.5 6,224,251 Portage La Prairie 6,374 13 Boundary 824.5 5,591,712 Kelsey 6,215 20 Turtle River 816.0 6,579,337 Western 6,184 30 Antler River 792.5 6,290,890 Brandon 6,057 7 Duck Mountain 736.5 5,782,890 Garden Valley 5,759 17 Red River 525.0 4,096,616 Hanover 5,421 9 Provincial Average 3,788.3 $28,267,101 Provincial Average $7,153 The largest school division is among the most expensive divisions in Manitoba The least expensive school division is not the largest in Manitoba. Page 2 ã2002 Published by the Frontier Centre for Public Policy, 201-63 Albert Street · Winnipeg, Manitoba CANADA R3B 1G4 ·Tel: (204) 957-1567 Fax: (204) 957-1570 · E-mail: [email protected] · Website: www.fcpp.org Administration2 Divisional Administration Expenditures School Board Rankings School Division Admin Percent of School Division Rank– Rank – Rank – Costs Total FTE Cost Admin Per Budget Pupil per Pupil Costs per Pupil Enroll Pupil ment Turtle River $412 5.1 Winnipeg 1 7 33 Mountain 410 5.5 River East 2 38 42 Red River 380 4.9 St. James-Assiniboia 3 37 39 Antler River 369 4.5 St. Vital 4 39 32 Flin Flon 366 5.3 Seven Oaks 5 26 30 White Horse Plain 356 4.5 Transcona- 6 33 41 Souris Valley 341 4.7 Springfield Fort Garry 337 4.7 Brandon 7 43 37 Birdtail River 335 4.6 Fort Garry 8 16 8 Duck Mountain 322 4.1 Hanover 9 45 45 Morris-Macdonald 313 4.6 St. Boniface 10 36 36 Pelly Trail 301 4.2 Assiniboine South 11 19 26 Prairie Spirit 301 3.7 Lord Selkirk 12 30 43 Rolling River 292 4.1 Portage La Prairie 13 40 40 Fort la Bosse 288 4.2 Mystery Lake 14 28 18 Turtle Mountain 287 3.8 Seine River 15 31 27 Swan Valley 284 3.9 Interlake 16 35 38 Mystery Lake 281 4.0 Garden Valley 17 44 44 Pine Creek 281 4.0 Agassiz 18 24 31 Midland 278 3.9 Rolling River 19 17 14 Boundary 275 3.8 Kelsey 20 41 25 Dauphin-Ochre 273 3.9 Swan Valley 21 10 17 Evergreen 269 3.7 Dauphin-Ochre 22 23 22 Rhineland 265 3.9 Prairie Spirit 23 1 13 Kelsey 261 4.2 Morris-Macdonald 24 32 11 Assiniboine-South 257 3.6 Evergreen 25 18 23 Seine River 254 3.7 Beautiful Plains 26 34 28 Beautiful Plains 251 3.8 Fort la Bosse 27 8 15 Western 245 3.9 Flin Flon 28 27 5 Seven Oaks 239 3.4 Midland 29 29 20 Agassiz 237 3.0 Western 30 42 29 St.