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By Steve Weatherbe
AS birthrates decline throughout the industrial world, so does the population of
school-age children.
In B.C., immigration has kept the population increasing; but the decline of
resource industries has sent populations spiraling downwards, in parts of the
province which don’t appeal to working-age immigrants.
That’s the bad news for schools.
The good news is that, so far, faith-based schools are holding their own. To do
that, they are pinching pennies, marketing aggressively, offering discounts and
widening their recruiting campaigns beyond their traditional faith base.
The province’s independent schools, most of which are Christian, were showing enrollment
increases until last year. Since 1999, the total independent school population
has grown by 16 percent, from 59,403 to 69,138 students; but the rate of
increase has slowed to a mere 0.3 percent.
Enrollment figures at individual schools vary considerably. Independent schools
are impacted by emigration from resource towns such as Campbell River, Nanaimo,
Quesnel and Fort St. John, just as much as public schools. When the number of
students at a particular school falls below 11 for two years in a row, the
school loses crucial provincial government per-student funding.
That happened to the Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) School in the Interior resource
town of Hazelton two years ago.
“Families and young people are moving to Alberta, or south, to get work,” said parent Laura Blabey. “Our church just doesn’t have many young families anymore.”
But everyone wanted to keep the school. The church agreed to back it for a year
without government funding, and it kept going with tuition of $110 a month. The
school reached out with advertising and a mailer extolling the virtues of the
small, Christian school. Enough new students were found to requalify for
provincial money.
Now a minority of students are SDA, but the Christian content has been
maintained. “Our kids miss out on the gym, on cooking and shop classes,” said Blabey, “but they get to go to school with their friends from church, they get the
benefits of the church affiliation and they get more attention.”
Beacon Christian Academy in Nanoose Bay on Vancouver Island hasn’t been able to weather the demographic storm; but it hasn’t given up, either. At the end of this school year, with its enrollment down
from 120 in K-8 at its peak to just 11 in K-3, it shut its doors. Principal
Barb Judd blames the aging of the local population and the trend to smaller
families. As well, the tightening economy has made the $3,400 per year tuition
more of an obstacle, with some parents preferring to home school rather than
send their children to either public or Christian schools.
But the Beacon’s light is not out. Beverly Groenewold, mother of three Beacon grads, said the
school’s board has a business plan that would see the school reopen in Parksville – which is closer to the centre of the region’s population, offering shorter drives for parents. A ‘re-lit’ Beacon would operate as a satellite of Nanaimo Christian School, which would
take over all administrative responsibilities to cut costs. So far, however, a
suitable building has not been found.
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Fred Herfst, executive director of Federation of Independent School Associations
of B.C., said independent and public school officials throughout North America
are watching the numbers closely. He said “it’s too soon to tell” what the 2009-2010 year will bring, since registration is far from complete for
September, and some currently signed up may never show up. “The proof is in the pudding,” he said.
Duncan Christian School expects to stay stable this year. Taking a page from a
Bellingham school, said outreach officer Norm Sowden, it is offering big
discounts for new students. The reasoning, said Sowden, is that the new
students still attract the provincial, per-pupil grant; and since most classes
have empty seats, the new students won’t add to staff or service requirements.
Dave O’Dell, the principal of Pacific Christian High School in Victoria, expects his
school to be down, marginally, in numbers next year. More serious are the
long-term prospects. “We graduated 90 from high school this year; we expect 60 to 65 newcomers. We’re looking at a decline, not a big crash.”
O’Dell said the school has to reach out to a broader market, something it has been
doing since its founding by members of the Christian Reformed church. Now
Pacific Christian is the school of choice for a broad range of denominations.
Herfst said Christian schools must be true to their mission – but also reach out to a wider market and dig deeper into their current market:
the churches. Bigger schools are getting serious, by creating marketing and
recruiting positions. Independent schools have steadily taken a market share
from public schools since getting funding in the late 1970s; they now claim
over 10 percent of the school age population.
Herfst said he doubted that much of this shift is due to parental protest over specific content in public
schools. He said schools in southern B.C. are still a going concern.
September 2009
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