Government, school boards ink four-year funding plan

Deal brings $356.6 million per year for classroom supports and mental health

March 11, 2024, 10:47 am
Ryan Kiedrowski, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Late last week, the provincial government announced a four-year funding agreement with the Saskatchewan School Boards Association, pledging a minimum of $1.4 billion over four years—$356.6 million annually—toward classroom supports and youth mental health.

The main goal of the agreement is to formalize collaboration between the ministry of Education and the 27 school divisions that make up the SSBA, and solidify the funding commitment over the next four fiscal years, effective April 1.

“This agreement provides a written guarantee, signed by the government, for long-term funding for classroom supports - funding that will address important issues like classroom size and complexity,” Education Minister Jeremy Cockrill said. “Now that our government has made this unprecedented commitment in a signed agreement, it’s time for the Saskatchewan Teachers Federation to end their job action and return to the bargaining table, so that students and teachers can return to the classroom.”

The agreement serves as a minimum funding commitment, and can be changed at any time within those four years should all parties involve agree.

“This agreement allows for the continued discussions with school divisions regarding future funding as typically done during budget deliberations,” noted part of the signed funding agreement.

Supports of Learning will gain the lion’s share of the allocated dollars, with more than $300,000 per year, and Educational Assistants will see $7,000 per year. Under the Mental Health Capacity Building (through the Ministry of Health) tab, there will be allocated $3,000 annually. A separate line item for bullying prevention (through the Ministry of Education) notes $609 per year.

“This agreement represents the willingness of both the Ministry of Education and school boards to work collaboratively toward solutions with some predictable and sustainable funding to back it up,” SSBA President Jaimie Smith-Windsor said. “These issues are best addressed at the local level, working with teachers, staff, students, parents, and families.”

Some of the common goals noted in the agreement include providing supports required to ensure all students have an opportunity to learn, and ensuring that enough predictable funding is transparent and available.

Locally, the South East Cornerstone Public School Division is still digesting what the details of the funding might look like.

“At this time, we don’t have enough of the particulars of the overall budget, but we are appreciative of any agreement that will increase the funding available to students within the school division,” said Keith Keating, Director of Education with SECPSD. “Our board has been advocating for increased funding and having a commitment to a base amount of long-term funding to school divisions for classroom supports certainly helps us plan in a more sustainable way.”

However the money is allocated, Keating noted the funding is a positive step.

“We are hopeful this will provide sufficient resources for classrooms and believe this to be a good step,” he said. “However, we will not know the total impact this will have without understanding the complete education budget and the cost of any collective agreement that may be signed with the STF. Our board will be looking to budget day for adequate, sustainable, and predictable funding for education.”

STF disappointed in ‘side deal’
The Saskatchewan Teacher’s Federation was quick to respond to the funding announcement, calling it a “side deal” with the SSBA during a news conference.

“We’re disappointed that the minister continues to search for ways to delay the dispute and avoid making meaningful commitments for teachers to ensure that students are well supported in classrooms across the province,” said STF president Samantha Becotte. “From information that we have received, this deal was presented to school board trustees, and they were only provided 24 hours to consider whether they would endorse the agreement or not.”

Becotte feels trustees were backed into a corner to sign the deal.

“It seems that government and SSBA leadership painted a picture to local trustees that gave them no other option but to accept this backdoor agreement,” she said. “The minister (Jeremy Cockrill) has repeated that the best deals happen at the bargaining table, and we agree, but his words and his actions don’t align because that minister continues to offer agreements away from the bargaining table.”

Becotte also worried the newly-announced funds might not be spent as intended.

“The STF is prepared to return to the bargaining table if government is willing to present their agreement providing assurances that boards of education cannot use these new funds for any other uses other than students supports,” she said. “This is what we consider as restricted funds. When funds are restricted, it means that divisions cannot use those funds for anything other than what their intended purpose is. Unrestricted funds as is in the current multi year funding agreement means that school divisions could use those funds for anything such as servicing debt or capital projects or hiring additional superintendents. We need to know that funds will be restricted so that they are going to address class size and class complexity.”

Becotte is also calling for a reporting mechanism to share transparency in funding decisions by school division.

“We need to know that funding is going to be there for a longer period of time,” she said. “So while it is a good start, without a long term commitment, we fully expect that any funds that are provided are going to be clawed back.”

Becotte was also critical of the provincial government’s recent announcement of the $180 million increase to the school operating fund—toted as being the largest such increase in Saskatchewan’s history.

“That announcement is misleading,” said Becotte. “It’s not 180 million new dollars because they are re-announcing some of the programs that were being ran there already. So the $40 million that came after our massive rally at the legislature in April, that’s included within the $180 million total that he’s announcing as new funding.”

With the funding announcement, the total operating funding sits at $2.2 billion.

The STF announced another round of job action, withdrawing extracurricular activities from March 11 to 13 in eight school divisions (Creighton, Holy Trinity Catholic, Horizon, Lloydminster Public and Catholic, Northwest, Prairie South, Prairie Valley, Saskatchewan Rivers and Prince Albert Catholic).