Despite regulations around how many fundraisers schools can hold and what fundraising money can be used for, some say fundraising still makes a difference in the quality of education from school to school.

At the Waterloo Catholic District School Board, for example, St. Anne Catholic Elementary School in Kitchener took in about $22,000 in fundraising money and $116,000 in total revenue – far more than the $2,000 in fundraising and $26,000 in total revenue raised at St. Anne Catholic Elementary School in Cambridge.

Annie Kidder, the executive director of advocacy group People for Education, says similar situations play out across the province.

“The top 10 per cent of fundraising schools raise the same amount as the whole bottom 75 per cent put together,” she says.

That’s not a problem as long as fundraising money isn’t being put toward items and programs that give one school’s students a leg up in the classroom, Kidder says – and the WCDSB has policies to prevent just that.

But Kidder says those policies, and Ministry of Education guidelines saying fundraising money can only go to enhancements, not essentials, don’t always go farther enough.

“Is an iPad an extra? Or is it a core part of what kids need to learn?” she says.

“Is a playground an extra? Or should all kids, rich or poor, have access to great playgrounds?”

For those and other reasons, the Waterloo Region District School Board refuses to release information on how much each school rakes in through fundraising.

“It can be a sensitive issue, because if you’re in a school that can’t fundraise as much, there may be some sensitivity in terms of being labeled,” says Angelica Allen, chair of the WRDSB’s parent involvement committee.

But some parents say they see nothing wrong with the system, because ultimately they want their children to have the best educational experience possible.

“I want what’s best for the school and for him,” says Lyndsay Gulanes, a parent who has a son at Elizabeth Ziegler Public School in Waterloo.

“If there are ways we can sort of access those resources, why not?”