After the devastating Sask. Party cuts to education announced in the last provincial budget, everyone who works in education across Saskatchewan has been doing all they can to try to minimize how much it hurts our kids’ classrooms. Chinook School Division was the hardest hit last year. Now, the school division is telling teachers yet again that Sask. Party cuts mean they have to take even more resources out of the classroom. Teachers are now being asked to help find a cut equivalent to 55 teachers.
“This year, there are already about 4,500 more kids on Saskatchewan classrooms and 188 fewer teachers and support workers in our kids’ schools. More cuts, will mean class sizes will go up and Saskatchewan kids won’t get the education they deserve and we need them to get,” said Saskatchewan NDP Youth Critic Vicki Mowat. “The Education Minister claims that throwing 188 teachers out of our kids’ classrooms hasn’t hurt in the classroom but that is just plain untrue and, frankly, ridiculous.”
To deal with the Sask. Party cuts last year, Chinook school division was forced to cut $4.75 million – over five per cent of their total budget. While the division did their best to avoid hurting the students, support staff like speech language pathologists were cut. Instead of recognising the obvious damage done, the former Minister of education said that Chinook’s cuts showed, “a great deal of leadership.” He added, “for that, we thank them.”
“Even with more and more of our kids sitting in larger classes with fewer resources, the Sask. Party are still refusing to rule out cutting more teachers,” Mowat said. “Chinook has cut so much already. The Minister needs to face the facts and admit that there is no way to cut the equivalent of another 55 teachers and not cause serious damage to the education our kids are getting in their schools.”