School boards association happy with increased education funding in budget

Wednesday’s provincial budget announcement included an increase in education funding, which is good news for school divisions.

The budget set aside $3.3 billion for education, including $2.2 billion in operating funds for the 27 school divisions in Saskatchewan. Also included was $356.6 million for classroom supports in order to address issues with class size and classroom complexity.

Jaimie Smith-Windsor, president of the Saskatchewan School Boards Association, said the new funding will provide better stability for school divisions.

“We saw some important things that we’ve been asking for, such as enrolment growth to be recognized through budget, as well as inflationary cost,” said Smith-Windsor.

Smith-Windsor said she was especially pleased to see the funding for classroom supports, which the government promised to continue for four years in an agreement with the association.

“I think that is acknowledgment that there is an urgent need to address this issue,” Smith-Windsor said.

She said school divisions realize the budget allocation is a base level of funding and not the ceiling.

“It does give us a place to go back to have further conversation on what might be needed,” said Smith-Windsor. “(Not only) to stabilize our classrooms, but also then what investment is needed.”

Smith-Windsor said she hopes the government will continue to be receptive.

“I think we need a longer-term commitment,” said Smith-Windsor. “We do see a little bit of that longer-term commitment through the multi-year funding.”

Smith-Windsor said the budget does a good job in two areas in particular.

“It acknowledges the opportunity to provide some stability for school boards going forward,” said Smith-Windsor. “It also provides the opportunity to address the urgent need for classroom support.”

Smith-Windsor added said the next step is to talk with government about issues in rural school divisions and how to improve them.

But while the school boards association was pleased with the increased funding, the government remains at an impasse in its negotiations with the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation.

The issues of class size and classroom complexity have been the primary sticking points in the deadlocked negotiations.

While the government has acknowledged the issues and signed a four-year agreement with the association to provide more funding, it has so far refused to include stipulations on class size and complexity in the teachers’ new contract. The union has said the money could be clawed back in the future unless it’s included in a new collective agreement, and said it won’t return to the table until the government agrees to include class size and complexity in the bargaining process.

Despite the increased funding for classroom supports and money set aside in the budget to construct nine new schools, federation president Samantha Becotte said the budget convinced her the government “doesn’t care about education. Period.”

More than 4,000 people joined a protest by the teachers’ federation outside the Saskatchewan Legislative Building on Wednesday as teachers held a single-day strike while the budget was being delivered.