Opinion: Culture war against Saskatchewan religious schools must cease

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It’s time to stop the culture war against Saskatchewan’s religious schools. We’re all rightfully alarmed at serious allegations of abuse at Legacy Christian School and Prairie Christian Academy.

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But, justice demands we not throw out all those of good will with any rotten apples. The recent guilty-by-association demands by Susan Bates, Ailsa Watkinson, Pat Atkinson and Rita Bouvier to scorch the school-funding orchard are unjust — and unfounded.

Mischaracterizing all religious independent schools as bastions of abuse and intolerance that don’t prepare students for post-secondary education is false. Robust social science research confirms religious independent schools produce civic-minded graduates ready to contribute to society.

Consider a 2021 Cardus study by Ashley Berner of Johns Hopkins University, which reported on an analysis of all 34 credible, empirical studies on the effects of independent and public school civic outcomes.

The analysis yielded 86 distinct, statistically significant findings. Fifty showed a clear independent-school advantage, 33 found neutral effects and merely three found a public-school advantage.

Examine also the largest, representative non-government survey of graduate outcomes — the Cardus Education Survey — which has surveyed a combined 18,001 young adults aged 24 to 39 about their high school experiences in Canada, the United States and Australia.

In Canada, 71 per cent of Christian school graduates felt their school prepared them for career success, 67 per cent for college success, 70 per cent for personal relationships and 69 per cent felt prepared for interaction with society.

The Cardus survey reveals that Canadian Christian school graduates are engaged citizens. Seventy-four per cent give to charity and 66 per cent volunteer, compared to 55 per cent and 45 per cent, respectively, of public school grads.

Of all school sectors across all three countries surveyed, Canadian Christian school grads were the most charitable givers and by far the most likely to volunteer (excluding homeschoolers).

Looking at the two provinces for which provincial Cardus survey data is published, evangelical Protestant grads are just as likely as public schoolers to have friends who are gay or lesbian, recent immigrants or of a different race. The B.C. and Ontario findings would likely hold in Saskatchewan, too.

This sense of inclusion and belonging profoundly influences academic performance. Controlling for socio-economic and other variables, good research suggests students whose religious background matched the religion of their school tended to outperform unmatched students in standardized math and reading tests.

The effect appears strong enough to take an average-scoring student into above-average territory, or lift a failing student to within average range.

“If a good fit between student and school by itself raises outcomes — independently of any other characteristics of the school or student, as indicated by the findings — then all of society would reap the benefits of such a match,” writes study author and Harvard-trained economist Catherine Pakaluk.

“Accordingly, creating a public policy environment that allows for and nurtures such pairing is in the public’s best interest.”

Tired tropes of a “two-tier” system draining public coffers is pure fear-mongering. According to Statistics Canada, fewer than 5,900 Saskatchewan kids attended an independent school (religious or not) in 2020/21.

Roughly one-fifth were enrolled in Qualified Independent Schools, while public school enrolment exceeded 180,000 that year.

So, we’re talking about 0.5 perc ent of students whose funding accounts for 0.04 percent of Saskatchewan’s $18.7-billion government budget. This is affordable in a province forecasting a $1-billion surplus.

Besides, defunding religious schools wouldn’t just affect Christians. Muslim children attending Misbah School in Saskatoon, Regina Huda School and others would lose, too. Defunding signals to religious folks that they’re different and possibly unwanted. It also undermines the public interest in education.

Democracies fund students and hold schools accountable, primarily because schooling forms citizens for our common life.

This is best achieved in a truly pluralistic education system, making room for religious independent schools alongside other kinds of schools that help students become contributing members of society.

Let’s keep pollinating the orchard, remove the rare rot, and welcome everyone to enjoy the bounty.

David Hunt is the education program director at Cardus, a public policy think tank based in Hamilton, Ont.