According to proposed legislation by the Legault government, religious independent schools in Quebec must stop, well, being religious.
If the legislation (Bill 9) passes, these schools will be forbidden to incorporate religious education during curriculum-mandated courses (e.g. math), hire staff or enrol students within a certain religious group, or employ staff that wear religious symbols ranging from face-covering niqabs to yarmulkes to necklaces featuring a cross or Star of David. If schools refuse to obey these new rules, they may lose their government funding. Currently, the Quebec government provides qualifying independent schools with 60 per cent of the per-student funding it provides to government public school.
To adhere to these new rules, many religious independent schools will need to extend their operating hours to provide religious education outside of the school day, which will increase staff and operating costs. Some schools will face significant capital costs. For example, a Jewish school with a Kosher kitchen will need to provide non-Kosher options, which could force the school to build a new kitchen and new cafeteria.
Consequently, some schools may close and others may be forced to increase tuition for families. And many families will simply no longer be able to afford to send their children to these schools, so the rules will hurt middle-income and lower-income children the most.
Proponents of the new rules often sing the same tune—the government shouldn’t fund religion, in schools or anywhere else, but rather should follow a strictly secular approach to governance. This borrows from Quebec’s “Quiet Revolution” of the 1960s when the province removed much of the Catholic influence on public life. The Quebec government says Bill 9, which also includes limits on public prayer and face coverings in public spaces, was in part a reaction to recent mass public prayers during anti-Israel protests and protestors blocking traffic while worshipping in public squares.
But for schools specifically, the legislation has far-reaching consequences. For instance, if some religious schools close, where will the kids go to school?
Many will go to government public schools—even though their parents previously decided that government schools are not the best educational environment for their children. As a result, the children and teachers in the government public schools will grapple with more kids in the classroom. Many government public schools already reportedly struggle to accommodate growing enrolment.
And remember, the government provides independent schools with 60 per cent of the per-student funding it provides to government public schools. So, for every child forced to migrate to a government public school, taxpayer costs will increase by roughly 40 per cent per student. This means more government spending, funded by taxpayers, on K-12 education, at a time when the government is already in deficit.
Finally, there’s little point to funding school choice in Quebec if independent schools are forced to look and act like government public schools.
In every province that funds independent schools, schools that receive funding must follow certain rules. Some of these rules may be reasonable or at least in line with other provinces that fund independent schools, such as ensuring schools adhere to provincial curriculum requirements. But the government should not undermine the mandate of religious schools, which is to provide a religious education that parents want for their children. As long as religious independent schools teach academics, it makes little sense for the government to meddle in how they structure their school day.
Quebec has a vibrant culture of independent education. According to a 2023 study, 11.7 per cent of K-12 enrolment in Quebec (almost one in eight students) was in independent schools—the second-highest proportion in Canada. Religious schools are an important part of this independent school landscape.
All Quebecers should want schools to be safe and provide the high-quality academic experience every child deserves. Inspections, provincewide standardized testing, and enforcement of the regulations already imposed on religious independent schools, can help ensure this environment. But by squeezing independent schools, the Legault government may produce some unintended consequences for families and taxpayers in Quebec. The government would be wise to tread carefully.
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Legault government’s new ‘religious’ legislation may shutter some independent schools – Fraser Institute
