BCTF claims victory at Supreme Court of Canada

[Rwede]

I'd happily spend $100 million to try to avoid $300 million per year in expenses.

But that's smart business, and thus not something I'd expect any NDPer to understand. Ever.

[maryjane48]

yes but what your not saying is you would spend a 1oo million to not fund education to the levels the tax payers of this province deserve

[Urbane]

I see this in a recent Vancouver Sun article:

The deal also includes flexibility for when minimums cannot be met. In cases where school districts cannot meet the contract requirements, teachers will be able to choose a remedy, including things like extra pay, extra preparation time or the hiring of other additional staff.

The deal also calls for a provincial class composition committee to be established to make sure the special education classifications and designations are updated and consistently applied. If it cannot reach agreement, it will be referred to arbitration by June 30, 2018.
http://vancouversun.com/news/local-news ... conditions

It's good to see that there is some flexibility in this agreement. I remember the government some years ago proposing extra money for teachers if a class was over the limit and the BCTF rejected it. As part of this deal, perhaps realizing the logistical challenges, the BCTF agreed. So I'd say that flexibility and the creative use of space, along with bringing in portables, will make for a workable agreement in the fall.

ETA: Teachers have now voted 98.4% in favour of the agreement.

[rustled]

I see this in a recent Vancouver Sun article:

The deal also includes flexibility for when minimums cannot be met. In cases where school districts cannot meet the contract requirements, teachers will be able to choose a remedy, including things like extra pay, extra preparation time or the hiring of other additional staff.

The deal also calls for a provincial class composition committee to be established to make sure the special education classifications and designations are updated and consistently applied. If it cannot reach agreement, it will be referred to arbitration by June 30, 2018.
http://vancouversun.com/news/local-news ... conditions

It's good to see that there is some flexibility in this agreement. I remember the government some years ago proposing extra money for teachers if a class was over the limit and the BCTF rejected it. As part of this deal, perhaps realizing the logistical challenges, the BCTF agreed. So I'd say that flexibility and the creative use of space, along with bringing in portables, will make for a workable agreement in the fall.

ETA: Teachers have now voted 98.4% in favour of the agreement.

This is such good news. I know if the teachers had been allowed this flexibility when I was working in the school system, more of their practical solutions could have been implemented, with less stress for staff, and students better served.

It looks like everyone's pulling together now. Very good news for our students.

[Urbane]

More good news:

https://www.castanet.net/news/Kelowna/1 ... -2-schools

[Osoyoos_Familyof4]

Composition is everything: A full or even over-capacity classroom can be workable with 30 "easy" children. But a classroom with 22 children, and 6 of them "high-flyers" is torture, and yes, this happens...often! USusally with little to no EA time.

It's so exceedingly onerous to actually have children "identified" in the system as "special needs" that this scenario happens all the time. Parents aren't always willing to go down that road (it's their choice), even when it makes it very challenging for the teacher.

The "funding" model within the school district only allows for so many children per year to be tested for special needs (as part of a multi-disclipilary team that includes medical professionals). It's so complicated how which children get "support" over and above the classroom teacher it would take 10 pages to write. Unless the child has a very obvious disability such as a physical disability, or something like Down Syndrome, obvious Autism etc. there can be little to no help in the classroom for that student. In these cases the classroom teacher spends a whole lot of energy and time corralling behaviours that make it impossible to teach the rest of the class, instead of teaching the lesson.

Flexibility is key, it's so important, and very appreciated.

[maryjane48]

but now the question will be is even of the students identified as needing extra , how many of them parents will feel used in a political game that was never going to win?

[Urbane]

And even more good news:

The B.C. government is meeting the Supreme Court of Canada order to to restore class size and composition to 2002 levels by allocating $330 million in funding.

School districts are now set to hire 2,600 new teachers with the additional money.

"We are very close to restoring the language of what classes needed," said B.C. Education Minister Mike Bernier.

"Come September, there may be some minor fluctuations. Some school districts may get a little more and some may get a little less."
Full article: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-c ... -1.4040816

A bit more information in this article from Castanet:

British Columbia's education system will receive a $150-million funding boost after the province reached a deal with teachers to restore contract language that called for smaller class sizes.

Education Minister Mike Bernier says the new classroom enhancement fund is in addition to the $180 million announced in this year's budget, bringing the total to $330 million.

The new funding will mean the hiring of about 1,500 new teachers, in addition to the 1,000 already announced in the budget, and Bernier says they're now recruiting 2,600 teaching positions from across the country.
https://www.castanet.net/edition/news-s ... htm#192637

[maryjane48]

but how many parents feel that their kids got a bad education because of govt malfeasance ? and clark and her supporters have not even offored an apology

[flamingfingers]

The ChristyLiberals giveth; the ChristyLiberals taketh away.

Right now they are shoveling money off the back of a truck, all over the place!! Does anyone smell a provincial election in the air???

[KGT]

And what's not mentioned is how many portables are going to be purchased because SDs were forced to close so many schools. I've heard that there aren't enough empty classrooms, nor enough portables in the entire province, to put class sizes back to where they should have been all along. There are going to be some challenges for admin, teachers, kids, and parents for a few years to come no doubt.