The fiscal legacy of school reform in Victorian Halifax

Abstract

In 1960 Douglas Casey traced the legislative development of public school funding in Nova Scotia, from the 1760's to the middle of the 20^th century. This thesis picks up where Douglas Casey left off. It looks at the spending and management of educational tax dollars against the background of Victorian notions of progress. This study is confined to the city of Halifax, although it seems clear that the basic framework and philosophy of the Halifax School Board recurred in school boards throughout the province, New England and Ontario. The information presented here thus contributes to the general knowledge of Victorian educational reform in Nova Scotia and beyond, but seeks in particular to point out the financial legacy of school reform in Victorian Halifax. The source and methodology of public school funding and our dependency on deficit financing are carry-overs from the Victorian period. The insolvency of Victorian school reform was in large part due to an inadequate funding process. The fundamental elements of that process remain in place today. Consequently the public schools of Halifax have remained in the red for 130 years. The financial legacy of Victorian school reform is the perpetuation of a particular funding process, one that has left successive generations unable to keep the City's schools in the black. Providing adequate and secure funding for the Halifax school system continues to be a problem in our own time. It is impossible to understand or change that reality without knowing how it was constructed. The intention of this thesis is to inquire carefully into the fiscal history of education in Halifax, in order to suggest directions for further investigation and perhaps to come up with alternative funding arrangements to those that are now in place.