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In Canada, the constitution dictates that provinces, through their individual ministries of education, endure the responsibility of administering and funding their public school systems. However, the federal government provides direct funding to schools that reside within Canadian territories. School boards are democratically elected bodies that fall under the umbrella of the province's ministry of education and offer localized knowledge of schools. They are also in charge of the hiring processes of schools within their district and distribute and administer a yearly district-wide budget.
In the United States, the responsibility of education is shared between state and national governments. However, similar to Canada, the majority of control over the education system rests with state governments. States delegate the responsibility of education to localized school boards and city-level governments. School boards take on similar managerial roles of school districts in comparison to Canada. Conversely, in the United States, some school boards further delegate power by giving significant authority to principals of certain schools.
The American federal government utilizes the U.S. Department of Education to impose its national control over education reform and policy. In comparison, there is no ministry or department of education at the federal level in Canada. While education is not constitutionally a federal American responsibility, the federal government does utilize the [threat of decreased funding](https://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/fed/role.html?) to enforce policy concerning education. As mentioned, in Canada, the constitution states that public education is the sole responsibility of provincial governments; therefore, the federal government has little to say with regard to policy. Both the Canadian and American education systems are very decentralized. Recently, however, in the United States, efforts have been made in an attempt to increase the role of the central government. This can be seen in initiatives such as the No Child Left Behind Act and Race to the Top.
As of 2016, when it comes to K-12 per-student spending, an Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) study found that the United States ranked 5th globally falling closely behind Norway at $13,600. In comparison, Canada placed 13th with an average per-student expenditure of $11,100. However, globally, the United States falls behind in spending when examining education spending as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP). The United States spends [roughly 6% of their GDP](https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator_cmd.asp#:~:text=Norway reported the highest total,United States (6.0 percent).) on education while Canada spends roughly the same 6% as reported in 2016. As of recently, when examining education spending as a percentage of GDP, Canada placed 49th while the United States placed 37th globally.
In the United States, rural schools struggle to achieve adequate funding as state funding structures generally favour wealthier districts. This is because, in most states, a portion of funding for a given school district is collected from property taxes. Therefore, wealthier neighbourhoods that pay more in property taxes and more densely populated neighbourhoods will have higher funded public schools. In Canadian provinces, schools are examined at the district level by provincial governments and an individual level by school boards; funding is given based on the following criteria; the remoteness of the school, the population, and how many special needs students attend that given school. Overall, this tends to result in a relatively even distribution of funding to public schools within provinces.
In the United States, at the post-secondary level, loan funding is half handled by the federal government while the rest is handled by businesses. At the federal level is the U.S. Department of Education and what they call the Federal Direct Student Loan Program (FDSLP). The other half is controlled by a host of institutions ranging from banks to credit unions who offer the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP). Interestingly, some schools accept both forms of loans, some accept only one, and others do not accept FDSLP or FFELP loans altogether forcing students to seek private means of funding. In Canada, the federal government offers two programs to aid in financing one's education. They offer the Canada Student Loan Program (CSLP) and the Canada Student Grants Program (CSGP). Each Canadian province also has their own loans that one may apply for. For example, in British Columbia, one can apply for StudentAidBC while in Ontario one may apply for the Ontario Student Assistance Program. Banks, in Canada, no longer offer student loans. Instead, they offer educational lines of credit which target those who have maxed-out government aid options.