SASKATOON -- The Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation (STF) said the provincial budget released Monday doesn’t provide enough funding to maintain existing resources or for extra measures required to avoid the spread of COVID-19.
"We have lots of concerns and just a few months here to start working those out and make sure that teachers feel confident that their health is going to be looked after,” STF president Patrick Maze said.
Last week, the provincial government announced that in-classroom learning will resume in September after being suspended on March 20 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Health guidelines will be put in place to ensure the safety of staff and students.
Maze said he is hearing of several school divisions having to decide where to reduce costs to address shortfalls, adding that doesn’t take into account costs related to COVID-19.
He said challenges created by a lack of resources, including complex classes, did not disappear with the move to remote learning because of the pandemic.
Maze said it’s made the inequities like access to mental health services, Wifi and computers even more evident and that without enough of the right resources, students will pay the price.
He said the STF also wants the health of students and staff to be protected through appropriate cleaning, physical distancing and other precautions without further reducing educational resources for students.
“Social distancing is expected and is the only way to stay safe. Well, that’s virtually impossible when we’ve got crowded classrooms of over 39 students and young students who don’t understand social distancing and the precautions that are necessary,” Maze said.
“The facilities in schools haven’t kept up. Adding on portables after portables after portables, doesn’t add bathroom facilities. So, we end up with long lineups at sinks and long lineups at water fountains for students and obviously those are not fitting with the Chief Medical Health Officer’s recommendations.”
Malvina Rapko, a mother of two kids in Grades 3 and 4 said education and safety must be a priority.
“We have nothing if we don’t have health and education,” she told CTV News
Rapko said more needs to be done to ensure students are going back to school safely in the fall.
“The kids are needing smaller class sizes for health reasons, not just academic and still, that’s not being reflected,” she said.
“On top of that, there are other health needs and ways to make sure that our schools are safe for our children — our future — so that they can learn in a safe environment but also not be bringing home potential illnesses.”
The provincial budget for 2020-2021 provides $2.6 billion for the Ministry of Education — an increase of five per cent — to support Prekindergarten to Grade 12 classrooms, early learning and child care as well as libraries and literacy.
Saskatchewan’s 27 school divisions will receive $1.94 billion in school operating funding, an increase of $42.1 million over last year.
Premier Scott Moe said his government is working with school divisions and the education sector on how to safely send kids back to school.
For example, classroom sizes may be expanded by renting a hall in the area, he said.
Maze said he would like to see some designated funding for school divisions to make sure that they are able to source sanitation equipment and have enough caretaking and maintenance staff to keep the buildings clean.
“We know that there’s going to be extra expenses in our schools in order to practice social distancing, in order to make sure that sanitation equipment supplies are there and ready to access, and so, it’s very strange that the budget didn’t have any extra funding to our schools.”
