Thank you, Britain, for showing Canadians what not to do with education funding: adding a 20 per cent value-added tax (VAT) to independent school tuition.

This policy of Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour government has injected chaos into the British education system and played havoc with children’s learning. The full impact will be felt in coming weeks as kids return to classrooms.

Independent schools had previously been exempted from the 20 per cent VAT. But the tax was applied at the beginning of 2025 in a bid to raise funds that could be redistributed to the U.K.’s state schools.

The government’s messaging was that parents of kids in independent schools should pay “their fair share”. But independent school parents already do society (and the Treasury!) a favour, given that they pay taxes toward the state system while also funding their children’s education themselves.

So it’s difficult to not feel like the government is targeting independent school parents for daring to exercise their options.State school: good. Independent school: bastions of elitism and snobbery.

In fact, though, the demographics of independent school students don’t reinforce this narrative. More than 40 per cent of independent school students are an ethnic minority, and one-fifth have special educational needs or a disability.

The government calculated that removing the VAT exemption would raise £1.5 billion, enabling it to hire thousands more public teachers, increase their pay and improve the quality of state schools.

But state schools aren’t always the answer. In April, independent school parents launched a court challenge, arguing the VAT was discriminatory because there were no state schools (or none within a reasonable geographic area) that could meet their children’s special educational or disability needs, or offer a single-sex or faith-based learning environment. A court decided against the parents in June, but some parents are reportedly planning to appeal the decision.

In the meantime, parents who cannot afford a 20 per cent fee hike, are pulling their kids from independent schools and registering them with state schools. This reduced enrollment has forced scores of independent schools (at least 50 so far) to close, pushing even more children into state schools.

The U.K. government is now faced with a huge increase in students enrolled in state schools — many with diverse learning needs — which has predictably resulted in crowded classrooms and an even greater need for teachers.

The influx of thousands of students to state schools in September means many fewer Britons will pay the VAT on tuition, and many more will demand education paid out of the national treasury. In the end, taxing independent schools could have an annual net cost of £650 million, according to the government’s own analysis.

Over in Canada, we should be carefully watching this cautionary tale.

In this vast country, provinces have responsibility for education. The province of Alberta is doing the opposite of what the U.K. government has done. Here, the provincial government doesn’t see independent schools as a problem, but rather as an integral part of the education ecosystem that meets students’ learning needs, develops good citizens, produces excellent academic outcomes and respects diversity.

To help solve its own school crowding crisis, Alberta isn’t demonizing independent schools, but rather inviting them to be part of the solution. It has included independent schools in the School Construction Accelerator Program, which will incentivize and support these schools to launch, build and expand more rapidly than new public schools.

So, thank you to the U.K. You have given Canadians a real-life case study, with conclusive results: kneecapping educational entrepreneurialism and school variety doesn’t solve problems; it compounds major issues like crowding and teacher shortages and ultimately increases the cost to the public purse.

The answer in the U.K., as in Canada, is to diversify. Empower civil society, parents, families and communities to contribute creative educational options that benefit the entire education system — meaning all students, no matter the school they attend.

• Catharine Kavanagh is western stakeholder director at Cardus