Classrooms are once again full across Saskatchewan as the school year officially kicks off.
And with the new year here, there is optimism for a fresh start after the final few months of last year were marked by a lack of contract negotiations between the provincial government and the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation.
Over the course of the second semester last year, teachers had multiple one-day strikes, work to rule and more job action.
But with binding arbitration set for December for the two sides, there is hope a deal is on the horizon but teachers do enter the year without a contract.
“In good faith there won’t be any sanctions that we have seen in the past year continuing into the fall,” STF president Samantha Becotte said Tuesday.
“That does provide a little bit more certainty to students, their families and teachers. But there is definitely a lot of uncertainty around what will come from binding arbitration, specifically around class size and complexity.”
And while there is excitement about a potential contract, the issues teachers have been fighting to solve continue to persist in classrooms.
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“We still experience the same challenges that we’ve been talking about for the last number of years due to now a decade of underfunding in our public education systems,” Becotte went on to say. “We are still experiencing larger class sizes. We’re still experiencing more complex classes.
“Despite the increases that came in the budget in the spring, we’re still hearing from school divisions who are talking about having to reduce the number of staff positions. And so teachers are definitely coming into the school year feeling tired.
“Some of them feel disrespected by their employers in their school divisions. Teachers want to have hope for the coming year. But when they’re not seeing any changes, it does create a difficult spot for them to be in.”
Becotte said she has heard similar issues from parents ahead of the school year.
“The parents that I’ve heard from as the school year begins are looking at their child’s class list and saying, ‘This is the largest class that we’ve ever seen,’” she said.
Global News reached out to the provincial government and education minister Jeremy Cockrill to discuss the challenges students and teachers are facing heading into the school year. Cockrill pointed to the $2.22 billion in operating funding for the 2024-25 school year.
“The 2024-25 Budget includes a total of $356.6 million for classroom supports which includes supports for learning, funding through the classroom supports program, the targeted supports program, and through the Specialized Support Classroom and Teacher Innovation and Support Fund pilot projects,” Cockrill said in a statement. “This funding allows school divisions to continue to add educational assistants and other professionals Saskatchewan classrooms.
“Since 2008, the Government of Saskatchewan has committed approximately $2.6 billion toward school infrastructure. This includes 69 new schools and 32 major renovation projects.”
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