Saskatchewan NDP Caucus

Federal Funding Must Be Used to Make Class Sizes Smaller: NDP

Saskatchewan NDP Education Critic Carla Beck welcomed a federal announcement bailing out the Sask. Party for their refusal to commit adequate funding to a safe school reopening, and called on the Sask. Party government to rapidly allocate that funding to making class sizes smaller in order to ensure a safe return to schools and minimize the risk of outbreaks. 

“Despite having months to get the return-to-school plan right, Scott Moe and Gord Wyant kept insisting that no additional funding would be necessary to make schools safer for our kids during a pandemic – to the extent that they waited until far too late to even allocate funding from their own contingency fund. Despite the concerns raised by families, educators, and medical professionals, they did nothing to address class size as crucial weeks passed,” said Beck. 

NDP joins substitutes in calling for urgent provincial action to address conditions for substitute teachers and EAs

NDP Education Carla Beck joined with concerned substitute teachers today to call for a province-wide plan that takes their safety into account. Specifically, Beck identified paid sick days and cohorting as basic conditions for a safe school reopening and called on the Premier to step up to guarantee those measures.

“By sticking us with the worst school reopening plan in Canada, this government has left teachers worried about who will step in if they need to take a sick day, and substitute teachers vulnerable and exposed, with no guaranteed sick leave and no protection as they prepare to interact with potentially hundreds of kids in a week,” said Beck. “For the sake of every single teacher, student and parent, we need clear guidelines and supports for substitutes and EAs across the province.”

Saskatchewan Government needs to rule out clawing back education funding in September: NDP

The NDP is calling on the government to rule out clawing back funding from school boards once enrollment numbers are finalized at the end of September.

“As so many parents struggle with the choice about whether to send their kids to school in September, school divisions are worried about losing funding from the province if their enrolment numbers drop off,” said NDP Leader Ryan Meili. “After fumbling our back-to-school plan so badly and causing so much anxiety and concern for kids, families and teachers, the Sask. Party needs to ensure that our schools don’t lose funding because of their failures.”

Meili to Moe: It’s Time for an Emergency Debate on Safe Return to School

Today, NDP Leader Ryan Meili wrote to Scott Moe to demand a return to the Legislature for Premier Scott Moe to answer for his government’s disastrous return-to-school plan.

“It’s clear that the Premier was hoping that if he ignored this problem for long enough, it would just go away,” said Meili. “Everyone in the province knew that with overcrowded classrooms and overstretched school budgets, getting kids back to school safely would be a challenge. But instead of stepping up and finding a solution, this government wasted so much time they had to delay the return to school. With all of this confusion, it’s time for families, teachers, school staff and school divisions to get real answers from this government.”

NDP calls on government to reverse cuts to addictions counsellor training

Today NDP Health Critic Vicki Mowat called on the Sask. Party government to reverse recent cuts to addictions counselor training at Saskatchewan Polytechnic in light of new numbers from the coroner’s office showing an increase in the number of deaths from overdose.

Beck calls on Moe to take responsibility for addressing class size

This morning, NDP Education Critic Carla Beck called on Premier Scott Moe to take responsibility for the Sask. Party government’s failed back-to-school plan and take real action to address class size in September.

“The Premier has called on teachers, parents and children as young as six, to take responsibility for their own safety, while taking no responsibility himself for the chaos his government has caused. He has no plan and no clue what to do – and families are paying the price,” said Beck. “The medical consensus is clear: smaller class sizes will be necessary in this unprecedented school year. Passing the buck to school divisions doesn’t cut it: the Premier must act.”