Premier Scott Moe used a two-and-a-half minute online video to announce an additional $180 million for education two full weeks before budget day.In a video posted to Twitter ("X") at 5:15 pm Wednesday, Moe said the province would add $180 million to the education budget, a 9% increase that would bring total funding to $2.2 billion. Of this, $350 million would address class sizes and complexity in a $45 million increase."We will continue to work very closely with our school divisions to ensure that this record investment is used where it is needed the most, right in our classrooms supporting our students," Moe said."We have already moved on a number of the teachers unions other contract requests, including workplace safety enhancements, the ability to manage their own dental plan and their request for the same salary formula as elected members have."Moe said he was not going to give the 23% increase the teachers were asking for but would work with school divisions to ensure the money went to supporting students in the classroom."The government has been making reasonable, affordable concessions to get the teachers union to return to the table and reach a fair agreement for our teachers and a fair agreement for Saskatchewan taxpayers who already invest more per capita in education than in any other province in the nation of Canada," he said.The Saskatchewan Teachers Federation has had rotating strikes and withdrawn supervision of noon hours and extra curricular activities in its push for higher wages and smaller class sizes. Moe said it was bad to have kids out of school and the pandemic proved it."In recent years, we have seen the consequences of kids not being in the classroom. And we never want to repeat that," Moe said."So today in light of these significant commitments, I am asking the STF to pause their job action so that teachers and students can return to their classrooms and the teachers union can return to the bargaining table."STF president Samantha Becotte said the government simply “announced ad-hoc funding to avoid being held accountable. This is exactly what we predicted would happen and has come only after an enormous amount of public pressure.”Becotte said only a “firm, irrevocable commitment in the collective agreement" would suffice.“If government would simply bring these offers to the table, a deal could be reached very quickly and all sanction activity would stop.”The Saskatchewan Budget will be released March 20.
