Saskatchewan gets poor grade in education efficiency

The authors of a new study say Saskatchewan is not getting a good return on the money it invests in education.

A study by the Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy at the University of Saskatchewan ranked the province ninth out of the 10 provinces when it comes to how efficient the province is with its education dollars. Only Manitoba ranked lower.

The study looked at average provincial spending per student measured against Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) test results.

Saskatchewan was found to be spending the second-most per student of any province, but had the second-worst student test results.

“The highest spending provinces, Quebec, Saskatchewan and Manitoba are not necessarily achieving the best results and the lowest-spending provinces, British Columbia and New Brunswick, are not necessarily achieving the worst PISA results,” the study noted.

Associate professor Haizhen Mou who worked on the study suggested the provincial government pay closer to attention to incremental spending to maximize value for its investment, and further investigate the factors driving academic outcomes.

Prince Edward Island was the most efficient with its public dollars.

The report said an estimated $7.5 billion could have been saved on education across Canada in 2015 by applying the Prince Edward Island model.