The president of the Saskatchewan Teachers Federation says considerations on class size and complexity and better pay were both leading motivations to refuse the government's contract offer.Negotiators for the province offered a pay increase of 3%, 3%, and 2% in successive years, and a pledge that an accountability framework with school boards on classroom size and complexity would be "honoured and followed."The STF's 13,500 members overwhelmingly rejected the offer, with 92% voting, and only 10% of the votes for accepting the deal.In an online press conference Friday morning, STF President Samantha Becotte said the issues of classroom size and complexity and better compensation were the highest concerns."in our preparation, coming into negotiations, looking at what is the top priority, both compensation and classroom complexity were consistently at the top of that list. We are going to do a little bit of data collection in terms of what the membership sees at this point, what they need to see going forward. But what I'm consistently hearing from teachers is it's not a one or the other when we're talking about recruitment and retention," Becotte explained."We need to make sure that we are keeping the high quality experienced teachers who are from Saskatchewan in Saskatchewan. So, that means that they have good working conditions, that they're supported in their work, that they feel like they can be successful in that work, but also that we are compensating them appropriately."Becotte said new teachers are paid 4.5% below the Western Canadian average and those at the top are paid 3.5% less. However, the average price of a house in Saskatchewan is lowest of all Western provinces at $330,800, compared to $991,440 in B.C., $476,718 in Alberta, and $342,755 in Manitoba.According to the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, the average Saskatchewan teacher made $92,000 in 2023 in 190 instructional days for $484 per day. The average annual pay of an employee in Saskatchewan was $61,000.The Education Sector Staffing Profile found the ratio of students per teacher rose from 18.8 in 2016 to 20.4 in 2023. However, the province has announced a record increase of $180 million in spending for the next year and signed a memorandum of understanding with school boards to continue this higher funding.Last January, CTF Prairie Director Gage Haubrich said if teachers are paid more, fewer can be hired in any limited amount of funds.“Teachers can’t have their cake and eat it too,” Haubrich said. “When half of school division budgets are spent paying teachers, it doesn’t leave room for much else.”Read more: HARDING: Nasty scenarios would follow teacher rejection of Sask contract offerAlthough the Opposition NDP has hammered the provincial government for not addressing affordability challenges, Becotte said the province was prospering."Everywhere I go, I hear from teachers about the need to address these issues and they are committed to that they have said, time and time again, 'We can't back down now. If we can't see improvements to education in a time where our province is relatively prosperous in the economy, when are we going to see improvements to public education?' We are in a crisis."Becotte said the STF was open to putting issues to binding arbitration, and would resume negotiation if the government returned to the table with a meaningful offer. However, teachers would return to job action if the government "forced" them to, despite the risk to public support."Support of parents and support of the public throughout this process is something that we are constantly talking about, but recognizing that any action that we take is going to impact students and their families. But it's not impacting them as much as the decade of underfunding that we have experienced in education," Becotte said."In 2015, we were first in the country for per-student funding and now we are down to eighth, and potentially moving to last, depending on what other provincial budgets look like this year."A recent study released by the Fraser Institute found higher per-student funding did not necessarily result in better standard test scores in the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA)."Saskatchewan and Manitoba, the two highest-spending provinces, had the lowest test scores, while British Columbia, the lowest-spending province, achieved the fourth-highest test score," the study noted.
The president of the Saskatchewan Teachers Federation says considerations on class size and complexity and better pay were both leading motivations to refuse the government's contract offer.Negotiators for the province offered a pay increase of 3%, 3%, and 2% in successive years, and a pledge that an accountability framework with school boards on classroom size and complexity would be "honoured and followed."The STF's 13,500 members overwhelmingly rejected the offer, with 92% voting, and only 10% of the votes for accepting the deal.In an online press conference Friday morning, STF President Samantha Becotte said the issues of classroom size and complexity and better compensation were the highest concerns."in our preparation, coming into negotiations, looking at what is the top priority, both compensation and classroom complexity were consistently at the top of that list. We are going to do a little bit of data collection in terms of what the membership sees at this point, what they need to see going forward. But what I'm consistently hearing from teachers is it's not a one or the other when we're talking about recruitment and retention," Becotte explained."We need to make sure that we are keeping the high quality experienced teachers who are from Saskatchewan in Saskatchewan. So, that means that they have good working conditions, that they're supported in their work, that they feel like they can be successful in that work, but also that we are compensating them appropriately."Becotte said new teachers are paid 4.5% below the Western Canadian average and those at the top are paid 3.5% less. However, the average price of a house in Saskatchewan is lowest of all Western provinces at $330,800, compared to $991,440 in B.C., $476,718 in Alberta, and $342,755 in Manitoba.According to the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, the average Saskatchewan teacher made $92,000 in 2023 in 190 instructional days for $484 per day. The average annual pay of an employee in Saskatchewan was $61,000.The Education Sector Staffing Profile found the ratio of students per teacher rose from 18.8 in 2016 to 20.4 in 2023. However, the province has announced a record increase of $180 million in spending for the next year and signed a memorandum of understanding with school boards to continue this higher funding.Last January, CTF Prairie Director Gage Haubrich said if teachers are paid more, fewer can be hired in any limited amount of funds.“Teachers can’t have their cake and eat it too,” Haubrich said. “When half of school division budgets are spent paying teachers, it doesn’t leave room for much else.”Read more: HARDING: Nasty scenarios would follow teacher rejection of Sask contract offerAlthough the Opposition NDP has hammered the provincial government for not addressing affordability challenges, Becotte said the province was prospering."Everywhere I go, I hear from teachers about the need to address these issues and they are committed to that they have said, time and time again, 'We can't back down now. If we can't see improvements to education in a time where our province is relatively prosperous in the economy, when are we going to see improvements to public education?' We are in a crisis."Becotte said the STF was open to putting issues to binding arbitration, and would resume negotiation if the government returned to the table with a meaningful offer. However, teachers would return to job action if the government "forced" them to, despite the risk to public support."Support of parents and support of the public throughout this process is something that we are constantly talking about, but recognizing that any action that we take is going to impact students and their families. But it's not impacting them as much as the decade of underfunding that we have experienced in education," Becotte said."In 2015, we were first in the country for per-student funding and now we are down to eighth, and potentially moving to last, depending on what other provincial budgets look like this year."A recent study released by the Fraser Institute found higher per-student funding did not necessarily result in better standard test scores in the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA)."Saskatchewan and Manitoba, the two highest-spending provinces, had the lowest test scores, while British Columbia, the lowest-spending province, achieved the fourth-highest test score," the study noted.
