Reframing Public Educational Services and Programs as Tradable Commodities – A Synthesis and Critique of British Columbia’s Bill 34

This paper is a critical analysis of British Columbia’s controversial Part 6.1 of the School Amendment Act 2002 (Bill 34) as it relates to the reframing of public educational services and programs as a tradable commodity. It enables public school districts to incorporate private companies to set up offshore schools and to market educational services and programs locally, nationally, and internationally. Policy- makers introduced this Bill with the assumption that public educational institutions must compete with other “providers,” to sell their services and programs effectively in order to keep revenues at a healthy level to ensure their institutional viability and relevancy. This paper examines the goals, motives, and assumptions behind Bill 34, and, more specifically, the extent to which Part 6.1 of Bill 34 incorporates a market approach to public education as it commodifies public educational services and programs and creates competitive arrangements between public educational institutions.