School boards support Sask budget, oppose union demand for class size guarantees

The president of the Saskatchewan School Boards Association (SSBA) says she welcomes new education money in the budget and a provincial contract with teachers should not include guarantees on class size and complexity.The 2024-25 Budget allocated $3.3 billion for the Ministry of Education, up 8.1% over last year's budget. School divisions will receive $2.2 billion in school operating funding, a record increase of $180 million (8.8%). Classroom supports will get $356.6 million, up $45.6 million over last year.The Saskatchewan Teachers Federation (STF) picketed outside the legislature the day the budget was released March 20. The union wants guarantees written into the contracts setting a ceiling on class size and complexity. This encompasses the number of students in the classroom and the number of curricula that the teacher must teach.In a conversation following the budget release, SSBA president Jaimie Smith-Windsor told Western Standard the province was acting appropriately by providing funds to address the issues, but not contract guarantees."I see a pathway forward to some stability in the education sector through this budget that needs to continue beyond one year, we're pleased to see a four year commitment and some some resources in this budget that's built on," Smith-Windsor said."I think there's also a pathway forward if all the parties get back to the table and negotiate an agreement. That's the best place to do it."Smith-Windsor said school boards are accountable to those who elected them to provide the best education possible."School boards have in place lots of mechanisms to consult, to create collaborative opportunities, with their staffs, with their teachers, with their families, with the students to create, to respond to urgent needs, like classroom supports," she said."But those really do need to be locally driven and school boards need to have the discretion to allocate those resources according to the biggest needs."Smith-Windsor said putting the guarantees the teachers want in a contract would be wrong."It's not an equitable way to allocate resources for education through a provincially bargained contract," she said."School boards are fundamentally responsible for making student-centered decisions."Foreseeably, union grievances would be filed in each circumstance where guarantees were breached. Smith-Windsor suggested guarantees in a contract, as some provinces have done, would sour the collaborative approach of the SSBA."There's a long history of collaboration in Saskatchewan that is unique to Saskatchewan. I would not want to see that dynamic in that relationship change," Smith-Windsor said."Now our focus is always around preserving the relationships that support students. And that is conducive to the delivery of a high quality education."Two weeks before the budget, the SSBA signed a memorandum of understanding with the government for $180 million more education dollars, including $45 million more for classroom supports.STF President Samantha Becotte told reporters at the legislature the SSBA agreement to sign the MOU without teachers' input showed the poor relationship that boards had with teachers."I think school boards are being misled in terms of what the realities are. We know that they're put in difficult positions to make hard decisions on what supports are being cut," Becotte said."It is frustrating to see that they sign an agreement that undermines the bargaining process and really has no guarantees that things will improve for students and teachers in the classrooms across our province."So while we would love to have a great working relationship, they're working against the best interests of students and teachers right now."Saskatchewan school boards have only one more classroom teacher position than they did eight years ago even though combined enrolment has risen by 15,000 more students."We're doing the work that they have not been effective and trying to advocate for over the last ten years," Becotte said."If it was a good working relationship between local school boards and teachers or even SSBA and teachers, they should be sitting with us and fighting for the exact same things that we're fighting for."The STF president noted the union's relationship with the government was also at a low point."None of their marketing has been in good faith. They've spent more time putting up billboards and putting out radio campaigns," Becotte said of the Sask Party government.

School boards support Sask budget, oppose union demand for class size guarantees

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