VANCOUVER—A school in the polygamous community of Bountiful, B.C., has received top marks in the Fraser Institute’s controversial education ratings, despite numerous concerns raised in a high-profile court case examining Canada’s polygamy laws.
But a Fraser Institute spokesman readily admits the rankings don’t give the whole picture of any school, a point the provincial teachers’ union has been arguing for years.
Bountiful Elementary-Secondary School is one of two schools in the fundamentalist Mormon community in southeastern B.C., and both have faced scrutiny at constitutional hearings into the criminal prohibition of multiple marriage.
The case has heard the community’s already low enrolment numbers have been declining, especially in higher grades, and few students make it to high school or finish Grade 12.
Bountiful Elementary-Secondary School in particular isn’t certified to issue official high school diplomas because of concerns about its curriculum, and the other school, Mormon Hills, was only certified for the first time this year.
But the annual B.C. elementary school ratings from the Fraser Institute, released by the right-wing think tank on Monday, give Bountiful Elementary-Secondary a perfect score of 10/10 — placing it in a list of the province’s No. 1-rated schools.
The rankings are based on scores from standardized tests for Grades 4 and 7, which themselves have faced renewed criticism in recent weeks.