Nova Scotia Education System Continues to Excel

Nova Scotia's public-education system continues to meet and exceed national education standards, says a Statistics Canada report released today, Aug. 30. The report compares several education benchmarks between 1998-99 and 2004-05.

Nova Scotia has had a notable increase in high school graduations since 1999-2000, up 4.5 per cent. The national increase over the same period was less than one per cent. Statistics Canada adjusted the figures to negate the impact of Ontario's 2002-03 school year, when its Grade 13 was eliminated and twice as many students graduated in one year.

The educator-to-pupil ratio in Nova Scotia matches the national average of one educator for every 16 students.

"Learning for Life, the department's long-term education vision was in its second year of implementation in 2004-05 and the Statistics Canada report reflects Nova Scotia's increasing investments in our classrooms," said Education Minister Karen Casey. "Learning for Life has meant more than a million new books, thousands of new computers and hundreds of new teachers."

The Statistics Canada report noted that Nova Scotia had the second-lowest expenditure per pupil in 2004-05. The previous year, Nova Scotia had the lowest-per-pupil expenditure in Canada.

"Our education system is very cost-effective. Other jurisdictions may have higher per-pupil expenditures, but that does not always translate into the in-class improvements we have seen in our province," said Ms. Casey. "Per-pupil expenditures also include non-classroom related costs such as transportation and heating, which can vary greatly from province to province to territory."

The Department of Education budget for 2007-08 is $1.5 billion, an increase of $73.2 million over last year. The education budget supports the public-school system, the Nova Scotia Community College, universities and public libraries.