Highlightsof BCTF Survey: Corporate Involvement in Schools

Spring2000

High return rate indicatesconcern about commercialization

Staff representatives from abouthalf of B.C.’s public schools completed and returned surveys on corporate involvementin schools (848 of 1,793 -- 47%).

This is the first time corporateinvolvement in B.C. schools has been studied systematically. The resultstherefore establish a baseline for future comparisons. There is concern thatcorporate involvement is increasing, especially with ever-tightening educationfunding, and that it is having an adverse effect on education. Awareness andpolicy development will likely influence future trends.

Vending machines found inalmost all secondary schools

"Three years ago anumber of teachers tried to get rid of the Coke and chocolate bar machines. Wewent armed with our board’s policy on nutritional snacks and other relevantinformation. You’d have thought that we’d tried to organize a mutiny. In theend, vending machines and advertising stayed."

Nearly half of all schools in theprovince (49%) have at least one vending machine. This breaks down as follows:

· 1 in 3 elementary schools (34%).

· 9 out of 10 secondary schools (93%).

· 28% of schools are known to be tied in to anexclusive beverage contract; more thantwo-thirds of high schools are.

· Secrecy around deals is an issue: another 10% ofstaff reps don’t know if an exclusivecontract is in place.

Nutritional mixed messages

Teachers are concerned that, whilecurriculum calls for teaching healthy eating habits, in-school vending machinespeddle high-sugar and/or high-caffeine "juices," "tea,"pop, and junk food.

"How do we decide whatis OK to have in the school? What messages are we sending the students-that Cokeis good/worthwhile? Why not cigarettes?"

· 25% of schools have Coca-Cola® machines; 15% have anexclusive contract with Coca-Cola®.

· 21% have Pepsi-Cola® machines; 13% have an exclusivePepsi® contract.

· 23% have vending machines with chips and sweets.

· Only 16% have vending machines offering nutritioussnacks.

School book and othercommission sales reflect inadequate education funding

· Virtually every elementary school (613 of 619 or 99%)has Scholastic Book® sales. "It’s so pervasive, it’s like ‘Kleenex,’?"said one teacher. "It’s not seen as a brand and therefore not recognizedas corporate involvement."

"The proceeds from ScholasticBook Fairs exceed the amount allotted to the school for library materials fromthe school board’s annual budget."

· Nearly half of all elementary schools (269 of 567 or47%) also have other book sales.

· Schools use these programs to raise funds forcash-strapped libraries; teachers use bonus points to stock their classrooms.Some teachers say this is some children’s primary source of books and istherefore beneficial for learning.

"We love Scholastic! If theend result is that kids learn to love reading and owning books, the ‘corporate’aspect is not so bad!"

· Others believe Scholastic® has a captive audience andfree labour, and that teachers, students and schools really get little inreturn for all their hard work.

· In 7 out of 10 schools, kids sell products such aschocolates and wrapping paper on commission.

Logos"R"Us

One school’s corporateinvolvement: "Orca Bay ‘Read to Succeed’, Christie Brown & Co.‘Read to Succeed’, Subway certificates for home reading, Scholastic Bookorders, I-Mac computer from local credit union, milk UPC code collection,magazine sales, Owl Book Fair . . ."

· Kids are exposed to in-school advertising: 8% ofschools have ads on scoreboards and 8% (by coincidence) of school buildingshave ads.

· Kids at 61% of elementary schools collect labels, boxtops, etc. as part of a corporate incentive program.

The technology tale

· 1 in 4 schools has received corporate donations ofcomputer hardware-23% of elementary and 30% of secondary.

· Schools in high socio-economic status (SES) areashave an edge when it comes to computer donations: 26% of high-SES schools havereceived hardware donations vs. 23% of low-SES schools.

Corporate “learning”resources

· Orca Bay (e.g. "Read to Succeed" and"Stay in Schooll") edges out the forestry and mining industries. 34%of schools use Orca Bay materials compared to 28% that use forestry company materialsand 13% that use mining industry materials.

· Orca Bay materials are used in 38% of elementary and17% of secondary schools.

· Forest industry materials are used in 29% ofelementary and 22% of secondary schools.

· Mining company materials are more widely used insecondary schools-16% versus 13% of elementary schools.

Cafeteria and food services

· 28% of schools offer meal programs for low-incomestudents: 26% of elementary and 35% of secondary.

· Just over half of schools serving primarily low-SEScommunities offer meal programs for low-income students.

· Students can purchase meals onsite at one-third ofschools: 20% of elementary and 80% of secondary.

· 53% of meal programs are currently publicly fundedand operated; just over 30% are privately operated; the remainder are likelyself-funded.

· About 30% of private food operations are fast-foodfranchises such as A&W or Subway (about 9% of all food services).

· 11% of food services employ students; 35% of foodservices employ support staff.

· Information is lacking about whether private foodoperations provide revenue to schools or districts (20% and 37% "don’tknow"); however, nearly half do not provide revenue to schools and 60% donot provide revenue to districts.

· Students rarely receive credit for their work inprivate food services (8%); they actually prepare food in only 13% of privateoperations; they cashier in over a quarter (27%); but their primary function isdistributing food (61%).

Consultation

"Our school has a committeeof parents and teachers working on ‘an ethical screen for any fund-raising orcorporate sponsorships.’?"

· Teachers have been consulted in about half of schoolswith corporate involvement.

· Students were only consulted about corporateinvolvement in their schools 12% of the time.

· Staff reps were often unaware of whether parents,other staff or the school board had been consulted prior to corporateinvolvement.

"I am pleased to seethe BCTF taking initiative in this very problematic area of corporatesponsorship. Keep up the fight for an adequately funded public school systemfree from corporate influence!"

Dollar values low

· One-third of staff reps don’t know the value ofcorporate contributions to the school they represent.

· Corporate contributions at one-third of schools areless than $1,000 (includes $0).

· Schools in low-income areas are more likely to havereceived less than $1,000 than those in high-income neighbourhoods (45% vs.27%).

· 27% of high-SES schools have received contributionsof $5,000 or more compared to 9% of low-SES schools.

Teacher from a small northerncommunity: "Corporate money is limited here. More corporate deals inurban centres will create an even greater imbalance between the have andhave-not districts."

Anny Schaefer, BCTF Research, May 2000