Investing in education pays off

A new report from the Conference Board of Canada has found that investing in public education produces a direct pay off to the economy.

Researchers at the Conference Board used data from Statistics Canada to examine the economic impact of public education. Their analysis produced three main findings:

• Every dollar spent on public education generates $1.30 in total economic impacts to Ontario.
• Each additional high school graduate saves the Ontario government (on average) $2,767 each year on social assistance, health care, and criminal justice.
• By increasing spending, Ontario could increase its graduation rate to 90%, which could provide average fiscal savings of $16.4 million per year.