Statistics Canada – Public school indicators

Monday, July 28, 2008
Public school indicators
1999/2000 to 2005/2006

The report, “Summary public school indicators for the provinces and territories,” examines trends in enrolment, graduates and the number of educators as well as basic financial statistics, such as total spending and spending per student, in public elementary and secondary schools between the school years of 1999/2000 and 2005/2006.Enrolments in Canadian elementary and secondary public schools declined between school years 1999/2000 and 2005/2006. Just over 5.2 million children were enrolled in 2005/2006, down 3% from 1999/2000. The only province to report an increase was Alberta, where enrolment increased 1% to 552,000.

The largest decline in enrolment occurred in Newfoundland and Labrador, where the number of students has fallen 18.4% since 1999/2000. This was consistent with population estimates that show the province’s school-age population fell 17.7% during the same period.

Elsewhere, declines ranged from 10.1% in Nova Scotia to 0.6% in Ontario.

The number of high school graduates in Canada was up 3% from 1999/2000. Just under 314,000 individuals graduated from public secondary schools in 2005/2006.

Among the provinces, the fastest increase occurred in Alberta, where 32,400 individuals graduated in 2005/2006, up 14.2% from 1999/2000.

In Ontario, the number of graduates in 2005/2006 had returned to 2000/2001 levels after a period of higher numbers caused by the elimination of Grade 13 (Ontario Academic Course).

The high school graduation rate was close to 75% in 2005/2006, unchanged from 1999/2000. Graduation rates were highest in the Atlantic provinces and Saskatchewan, and lowest in Alberta and the three territories.

Spending increased at a faster rate than inflation, as measured by the Consumer Price Index. In total, expenditures of public elementary and secondary schools in Canada rose 27.6% between 1999/2000 and 2005/2006 to $47.4 billion. In comparison, consumer prices rose 15.2% over the same period.

In 1999/2000, it cost on average $7,357 to educate a student in Canada. Six years later, this cost had increased 31.9% to $9,704, a rate of increase higher than the inflation rate.

Among the provinces, the annual cost per student in 2005/2006 ranged from a high of more than $10,000 in Alberta and Manitoba to a low of about $7,650 in Prince Edward Island.

The number of educators was up 2.5% from six years earlier. There were slightly over 329,000 educators in Canadian public schools in 2005/2006.

Note: The data are obtained from the department or ministry of education in each province and territory and include public schools.

The term “educator” refers not only to teachers, but to all employees in the public school system who are required to have teaching certification as a condition of their employment. This definition generally includes principals, vice-principals and professional non-teaching staff.

The graduation rate in this report is calculated on a cross-sectional basis and hence underestimates the “final” graduation rate. It should not be used to infer the dropout rate.

Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 5102.

The report “Summary public school indicators for the provinces and territories, 1999/2000 to 2005/2006”, is now available online as part of the Culture, Tourism and the Centre for Education Statistics: Research Papers (81-595-MIE2008067, free). From the Publications module of our website, under Free Internet publications, choose Education, training and learning, then Culture, Tourism and the Centre for Education Statistics: Research Papers.

For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Client Services (toll-free 1-800-307-3382; 613-951-7608; fax: 613-951-4441; educationstats@statcan.ca), Culture, Tourism and the Centre for Education Statistics.