Federation Calls on Government to Maintain Education Funding

The Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation welcomes additional funding for education in the 2021-22 fiscal year. Yesterday’s funding announcement from the Government of Saskatchewan is an acknowledgement of the significant costs and challenges schools have faced throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Federation expects that the government’s 2022-23 budget will provide adequate funding to address the realities in the public education system. When the 2022-23 budget is released tomorrow, the K-12 education operational budget will require a 4.7 percent increase over the 2021-22 budget to keep up with inflation costs and student enrolment. Anything less than 4.7 percent is a deficit budget and will force school divisions to cut programs, services and supports to students.

“Since 2017, the government has chosen to not maintain operational funding to schools,” said STF President Patrick Maze. “Funding over the last five years has not kept pace with enrolment increase and inflation. School divisions have had less purchasing power and more students to serve. Students are the ones paying the price with high class sizes, fewer non-teaching supports and less access to programming to address their unique educational needs. All Saskatchewan students deserve a quality and properly funded public education.”

The Federation also calls on the Government of Saskatchewan to provide funding specifically for:

• Addressing class size, composition and complexity, including recommendations of the Provincial Committee on Class Size and Composition.
• Catching up students who experienced a learning loss due to the pandemic.
• Ensuring students have timely access to professional mental health supports.
• Timely access to professional services such as school psychologists, speech language pathologists and occupational therapists.
• Funding and supports to welcome additional students from Ukraine into our schools, including meeting the demands of increased enrolment and specific needs of those students.
• Making the child-care subsidy accessible to Ukrainian newcomers.

“If we want Saskatchewan to have a strong future, it must be a place where our young people choose to stay and build a life,” said Maze. “A properly funded education system would not only make Saskatchewan an attractive place to raise a family today, but it would also ensure tomorrow’s workforce is prepared with the skills and knowledge to be competitive.”

Following the tabling of the provincial budget on March 23, the Federation will provide a response on behalf of Saskatchewan teachers.