The NDP is calling on the Sask. Party government to properly fund classrooms, and to track, and set a maximum size for classroom sizes, after years of underfunding have made increasingly crowded and complex classrooms throughout the province more challenging for teachers to manage.
“We have 70 schools in the province that are already overcapacity, and we have classrooms with 30, 40, or even more students,” said NDP Leader Ryan Meili. “The challenges are already there, and they aren’t getting any easier for teachers, especially not when you consider the millions that have been cut from classrooms by this government.”
Education Critic Carla Beck noted that overcapacity classrooms make for a difficult learning environment for students. Yet the Sask. Party government isn’t even monitoring or regulating class sizes, let alone setting an upper limit for how large they can grow.
Because of a lack of proper funding to classrooms, school divisions are being forced to dip into reserves or make more cuts.
“The Sask. Party’s approach to education is putting teachers’ jobs at risk and is at the very least forcing them to do more with less,” Beck said. “The needs in the classroom are growing more and more complex, but budgets are becoming more and more strained. We need to be helping teachers put students first, not make their jobs more difficult.”
Poor working conditions, favouritism, $300K travel nurse pay at issue
REGINA - Today, the Official Opposition released a letter signed by 49 emergency room nurses in Saskatoon. The letter slams the Sask. Party government for failing to support Saskatchewan nurses and curb the province’s reliance on expensive out-of-province travel nurses.
REGINA - Today, Official Opposition Critic for First Nations and Métis Relations Betty Nippi-Albright hosted a Day of Action with Indigenous leaders from Nekaneet First Nation, Yellow Quill First Nation, Waterhen Lake First Nation, Onion Lake Cree Nation, Carry The Kettle First Nation, Key First Nation and the residential school support team from Yorkton Tribal Council. Together, they continue to draw attention to the Sask. Party government’s disregard for the Duty to Consult process.
MOOSE JAW - Today, the Official Opposition stood with Taylor Enns, president of the Moose Jaw Firefighters Association, and Brayden Dutchak, the son of a cancer survivor. Together, they called on the Sask. Party government to reopen Saskatchewan’s only hyperbaric chamber.
Records show former Sask. Party Finance Minister lobbied for Calgary surgery scheme on behalf of a major Sask. Party donor
REGINA - Today, the Official Opposition grilled the Premier and his Minister of Health after the Minister misled the public, claiming that he had not been lobbied by a former Sask. Party MLA when Saskatchewan's official lobbyist logs show the exact opposite.