Quote:
Originally Posted by Hot_Flatus
Regardless of whether they choose to fund private schools or not (they shouldn't), it doesn't excuse the terrible offers from a salary increase perspective and student funding perspective on the table that haven't been adjusted by the UCP since the Spring. And sorry, anyone siding with the UCP on this because of the lies Smith is spreading about wages being comparable to other provinces, while conveniently using old numbers that are not relevant better do some research. AB teacher salaries are way behind many provinces if you look at the most recent deals coming into effect.
Hiring 3000 teachers sounds sexy if you're uninformed, but it's at best 2 teachers per school on average and many of the schools in Alberta need at least 8-12 more teachers just to be at class sizes that are considered normal. This also doesn't account for any new school openings (if they ever actually get built).
Stop the insanity of class sizes in the 35-45 range and buck up. Pay competitive wages. Regardless of the rhetoric, we still do pay a lot of taxes and make a lot of money off of oil in this province. There is zero excuse to have our teachers paid far less than many provinces and our children in classes that are catastrophically large due to poor per student funding. If you can't fund health care, education and first responder services well in this province, you might as well pack it in because there isn't anything that should be more important.
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Hiring 3000 teachers is just base level "keeping the education system functional based on population growth". It shouldn't have anything to do with a union negotiation.