Saskatchewan could legislate accountability for school boards on class size and complexity

Saskatchewan Education Minister Jeremy Cockrill said the province was prepared to put accountability on school class sizes into legislation, but would not do so in a contract with teachers without school board agreement.Cockrill said requirements for school boards to meet standards outlined in a recent memorandum of understanding (MOU) could be reinforced by a bill.“In our discussions with STF (Saskatchewan Teachers' Federation) leadership last week, we did float the idea of putting the accountability framework in legislation, to require boards to do that,” Cockrill told reporters in the legislature on Monday.“Many school boards already have a framework for accountability or have a mechanism for accountability to work with their local teachers already. Really, what the MOU that we put forward a couple of weeks ago to the STF was really to formalize that and make that consistent across the 27 school divisions."NDP Education Critic Matt Love and STF President Samantha Becotte have said more government money for education and classroom supports announced in the recent budget could always be clawed back. Cockrill said the willingness to put such guarantees in legislation should be seen as a strong signal."I’ve heard the phrase ‘pinky-promise’ and ‘pinky-swear’ and obviously when you put something into the Education Act that becomes law. So that was our effort to show that we are serious about the accountability framework, school divisions are serious.”Cockrill said he hoped for more discussions with STF and with the Saskatchewan School Boards Association on “how to entrench accountability into the system.”“I’m not necessarily closed off to the idea of the accountability framework being in a contract, potentially,” Cockrill added.“My concern is with really having the multi-year funding agreement signed in a provincially collective bargained agreement. That’s a problem for government.”Cockrill said the multi-year funding agreement in Advanced Education with post-secondary institutions in the province did not include unions in the agreements and an arrangement for primary and secondary education shouldn't either.Love remained critical of how Cockrill and the Sask Party government were handling the ongoing dispute. Beginning Monday, teachers were indefinitely working to rule, leaving them to do no extracurriculars or noon hour supervision. “Teachers want to be in the classroom. Students want to be in the classroom, parents want to be there. We’ve got a minister that needs to get out of the way,” Love said. “The fact is this has been the longest job action in Saskatchewan history when it comes to teachers. And we have a minister who has a believability problem, continually presents facts to the public that are simply not true and teachers are out there, I think, working for better conditions in our classrooms because this government has failed to provide those conditions.”Love also expressed doubts about putting the accountability framework into legislation and thought guarantees on classroom size and complexity should be in a contract as the STF has insisted.“In election years they make big promises and then they fail to follow through on those after an election. Teachers especially know this to be true. They were here in 2020 when they did this, in 2016 and 2017 when they did this and 2012 and 2013 when they did this," Love said."This is the track record this minister needs to own and they simply can’t be trusted to follow through on their commitments. And this minister is committing to put this into legislation. I’m not sure that would satisfy the level of accountability that frankly we need to hold this minister and the Sask Party government to provide for the supports our classrooms need.”Love pointed out legislation can be changed, unlike a contract.“We have legislation that dictates election dates and it’s still up to the government whether they follow through on that.”

Saskatchewan could legislate accountability for school boards on class size and complexity

Related Stories