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When Leonard Baak’s son hit kindergarten age, his local public school in Stittsville, Ont., was so full it couldn’t even add any portables. So all the other parents in his neighbourhood did the natural thing and dusted off their Roman Catholic baptism certificates and got their children into the local Catholic school.

Mr. Baak was a “churchgoing Christian” but not Catholic — which at least one parent needs to be if a child can be admitted to Catholic elementary. His only other choice was to put his four-year-old on a 45-minute bus ride or enroll him in private school at a hefty price.

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I pay as much tax as they do

He tried everything to get his son to the local Catholic school, even seeing a priest about becoming a Roman Catholic. That process would take a year and he wasn’t willing to wait, especially as his daughter approached school age too.

“I put them in private school. So it took $35,000 [in tuition over two years] to escape an overcrowded situation my Catholic neighbours could escape for free,” he said this week.