Educational currency: The divisiveness of school choice policies in Ontario, Canada

School choice policies continue to expand across the globe. Advocates insist that the opportunity to decide where one’s children will learn is more equitable and socially responsive. However, these sentiments are widely disputed. In this study I emphasize that school choice is another venue where families experience uneven amounts of privilege. While there is extensive literature documenting that unequal advantage exists in school markets, little is known about what this advantage looks like, how it is attained, and how it is used in Ontario, Canada. This research unveils the intricacy of educational currency by studying teacher-parents, a subgroup of the population who possess it. Educators in Ontario share how their unique combinations of cultural, social, and economic capital allow them to collect and spend educational currency (EC) as they choose schools for their own children. The data not only reaffirms that certain populations possess unique amounts of EC and defines what EC is; it provides insight into how school choice leads to a more racially, ethnically, and economically segregated system.