K-12 Education, Funding and Equity in Manitoba
Like elsewhere in Canada, public schools in Manitoba have endured an unprecedented year of turmoil and turbulence with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, this is far from the first year of challenge and change for Manitoba education.
The Manitoba government may eliminate school division control of property tax, force division amalgamations and other reforms as to centralize control of education funding in the hands of the cabinet. This doesn’t align with the priorities of major stakeholders and comes with worrisome precedents from neighbouring provinces; precedents if replicated in Manitoba would bode ill for mitigating the short-term equity crisis of COVID-19, and precedents that need to be inverted to achieve equity in student outcomes long-term.
