School Diversification and Dilemmas across Canada in an Era of Education Marketization and Neoliberalization - Policy Advocacy, Inequity, and School Fees and Fundraising in Ontario, Canada

Oct 15, 2026

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Fundraising and collecting fees are pervasive in Ontario’s public schools, with critics arguing they intensify inequities across schools and communities. The study provides findings from a critical policy analysis of an advocacy group’s efforts to change Ontario’s fees and fundraising policies over two decades. Rhetorical analysis of 110 texts shows consistent problem construction, shared audiences, and repeated persuasion strategies targeting logos, ethos, and pathos, yet only one of four policy meanings became dominant. The analysis links this outcome to neoliberalism and the policies’ broader social, political, and economic contexts.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages33

Reading Time1 h 23 min

AccessFree to download

Policy Advocacy, Inequity, and School Fees and Fundraising in Ontario, Canada

Abstract and findings

Keywords and policy rhetoric

SPECIAL ISSUE School Diversification and Dilemmas across Canada in an Era of Education Marketization and Neoliberalization education policy analysis archives A peer-reviewed, independent, open access, multilingual journal Arizona State University | Volume 25 Number 40 | April 24, 2017 | ISSN 1068-2341 | | --- | --- | --- | Policy Advocacy, Inequity, and School Fees and Fundraising in Ontario, Canada Sue Winton York University Canada & Michelle Milani York University Canada Citation: Winton, S., & Milani, M. (2017). Policy advocacy, inequity, and school fees and fundraising in Ontario, Canada. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 25(40) . [http://dx.doi.org/10.14507/epaa.25.2679](http://dx.doi.org/10.14507/epaa.25.2679) This article is part of the Special Issue on School Diversification and Dilemmas Across Canada, guest edited by Ee-Seul Yoon & Christopher Lubienski. Abstract: Fundraising and collecting fees are ubiquitous in Ontario, Canada’s public schools. Critics assert that these practices perpetuate and exacerbate inequities between schools and communities. In this article we present findings from a critical policy analysis of an advocacy group’s efforts to change Ontario’s fees and fundraising policies over the past two decades. Rhetorical analyses of 110 texts finds that the group constructed the problem of each policy similarly, targeted the same audiences, and utilized many of the same strategies to appeal to logos, ethos, and pathos in their struggle over the policies’ meanings. However, only one out of four of the group’s policy meanings became dominant. The discursive and critical policy perspectives grounding the study directed us to examine how neoliberalism and the policies’ shared broader social, political, and economic contexts can help explain this outcome. Specifically, the group’s efforts to change Ontario’s school fees and fundraising policies confronted dominant discourses that construct parents as consumers of education and responsible for their children’s success in a competitive world, promote the meritocratic notion that successful people deserve their success and the benefits it brings, view the government as responsible only for providing the basic requirements of education, and support privatization and marketization of public schools. Keywords: school fundraising; school fees; Ontario; policy; advocacy; rhetoric Defensa de la política, inequidad y financiamiento escolar en Ontario, Canadá Resumen: Recaudación de fondos y las cargos escolares son omnipresentes en las escuelaspúblicas en Ontario, Canadá . Los críticos afirman que estas prácticas perpetúan y exacerban las desigualdades entre las escuelas y las comunidades. Este artículo presenta los resultados de un análisis político crítico de un grupo de defensa de los esfuerzos para cambiar las tasas de Ontario y de recaudación de fondos político en las últimas dos décadas. Se encontró que el grupo construyó el tema en una política del mismo modo, el objetivo de la misma audiencia y se utiliza muchas de las mismas estrategias para atraer a los logos, ethos y pathos en su lucha a través de los significados de las políticas. Sin embargo, sólo uno de cada cuatro de los significados políticos llegaron a ser dominantes; Esto nos llevó a examinar cómo el neoliberalismo y el contexto social, político y económico más amplio compartido por las políticas pueden ayudar a explicar este resultado. En concreto, los grupos esfuerzos para cambiar las tasas escolares y las políticas de recaudación enfrentan los discursos dominantesque han construido los padres como consumidores de educación y responsables del éxito desus hijos en un mundo competitivo, promover la idea de la meritocracia (personas exitosamerecen su éxito y beneficios considera que el gobierno sólo es responsable de proporcionar los requisitos básicos de la educación y el apoyo privatización y comercialización de las escuelas públicas. Palabras-clave: Rec

FAQs

Why does the article focus on school fundraising and school fees in Ontario?

Because fundraising and fee collection are widespread in Ontario public schools and critics argue they perpetuate and worsen inequities between schools and communities.

What does the study analyze and how long is the evidence window?

It performs a critical policy analysis of an advocacy group’s efforts to change Ontario’s fees and fundraising policies over the past two decades, using rhetorical analysis of 110 texts.

What did the rhetorical analysis find about how the advocacy group framed policies?

The group constructed each policy problem similarly, targeted the same audiences, and used many of the same strategies to appeal to logos, ethos, and pathos, but only one out of four policy meanings became dominant.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by ahduag