A Short History of K-12 Public School Spending in British Columbia - 1970-2020 - Analysis of spending growth and drivers

Oct 15, 2026

A Short History of K-12 Public School Spending in British Columbia, 1970-2020 examines fifty years of public K-12 education expenditure data from the Canadian province of British Columbia. It evaluates whether spending increased or decreased, and explains causes and correlates of change. Historical analysis challenges the assumption of neoliberal-era cuts: inflation-adjusted K-12 spending in 2020 is 250% higher than in 1970, while enrolment reaches only 110%. Personnel expansion, especially more teachers negotiated via BCTF class size rules, drives growth, alongside provincial and district spending priorities and limited success of cost-control legislation.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages22

Reading Time55 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Long-run spending trends (1970-2020)

Inflation-adjusted operating expenditures

Block funding and additional grants

Explaining spending growth

Teacher workforce and class size negotiations

Provincial and district spending priorities

Ideology and cost-control debates

Neoliberalism vs empirical evidence

Political cycles and fiscal rules

Research needs and policy implications

A Short History of K-12 Public School Spending in British Columbia, 1970-2020 Jason Ellis University of British Columbia Abstract This article looks at fifty years’ worth (1970-2020) of public K-12 education expenditure data from the Canadian province of British Columbia. It asks if spending has increased or decreased in this period and examines the causes and correlates of spending changes. Previous research has tended to assume that spending has decreased during this “neoliberal” period. However, historical and empirical research in this article gives a much different picture. K-12 public education spending in British Columbia – adjusted for inflation – is 250 percent higher in 2020 than it was in 1970. Meanwhile, enrolment in 2020 is only 110 percent of 1970 enrolment. The main cause of spending growth is increase in the number of teachers the system employs, which depended in no small part on the British Columbia Teachers’Federation (BCTF)’s successful attempts to negotiate class size and composition rules. Other causes of spending growth are provincial and district spending priorities. Successive provincial governments have tried to rein in education spending by legislating cost controls on district spending and teacher contracts but have seldom achieved reductions for long. Spending increases and attempts at cost control are at best only linked partially to governing party ideology, with right-wing and left-wing provincial governments both initiating years of increases and cutbacks. More empirical research is needed, especially into spending’s effects on educational equity and quality, to complete the picture of education finance in British Columbia. Keywords: education spending, education finance, neoliberalism, British Columbia, British Columbia Teachers’ Federation (BCTF), history British Columbia’s K-12 public school spending increase in the last five decades is astounding. In 1970, yearly operating expenditures on public K-12 schools in the province were approximately $315 million.1 The 1970 figure, when you adjust it for inflation, comes to just over $2.1 billion in 2020 dollars.2 In 2020, however, British Columbia did not spend $2 billion on K-12 public schools. It did not spend $3 billion – or even $4 billion. For 2020, operating grant block funding expenditures on public K-12 schools in British Columbia were $5.3 billion. This does not include special operating grants or government grants ¹ Operating expenditures refers to funds spent to run schools on a day-to-day basis, such as money for teachers’and other staff’s salaries, school buses, learning materials, building maintenance, and the like. It excludes capital costs, such as the cost to construct new school buildings. However, it may include interest charges on borrowed capital for school construction. ² When I say adjust for inflation, I mean that I have removed the inflating effect of the changing value of currency by converting all historical dollars to 2020 dollars using the Bank of Canada inflation calculator. All inflation calculations in this article are my own. [https://www.bankofcanada.ca/rates/related/inflation-calculator/](https://www.bankofcanada.ca/rates/related/inflation-calculator/) to private schools. These grants add close to $450 million – each – on top of the $5.3 billion figure.3 British Columbia’s block operating grant alone – adjusted for inflation – is more than 250 percent higher than what the province spent on K-12 operating in 1970. My argument in this empirical article is that increase is the story ofK-12 public school expendituresin British Columbia since 1970. Spending grew unhindered in the 1970s. Since the early 1980s, provincial governments have used legislation to try to rein spending in. Their efforts have seldom succeeded for long. Dramas over teachers’ salaries and collective bargaining, over class size and composition, andover school districts’ taxing and spending powers have shaped spending growth in

FAQs

How much did K-12 public school spending change in British Columbia from 1970 to 2020?

Inflation-adjusted K-12 public education spending in 2020 is 250% higher than in 1970. Enrolment in 2020 is only 110% of 1970 enrolment.

What is presented as the main cause of spending growth?

The main cause is the increase in the number of teachers the education system employs, shaped in part by the British Columbia Teachers’ Federation (BCTF) negotiating class size and composition rules.

Why does the article argue against the idea of austerity and education spending cuts during the neoliberal period?

It states that the misperception of spending reductions is not supported by historical research. It also argues that rising or falling spending should not be attributed too simply to political ideology alone.

Oct 15, 2026

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