The Canadian Rockies Public School (CRPS) board has vowed to support an agreement reached last week between the Province and the Alberta Teachers Association which outlines salaries for teachers, workload and hours of instruction.
Trustees from the CRPS board unanimously voted in favour of the tentative four-year agreement during the in-camera portion of its regular meeting on March 20, citing stability in allowing the school board to focus on its vision and goals.
“The labour stability for four years is a very big component of that, which helps us continue to move forward,” said CRPS superintendent Chris MacPhee. “The board is confident in the reassurances that the education minister (Jeff Johnson) is giving in support of the agreement moving into the future.”
Under the four-year agreement framework, nearly 40,000 teacher salaries will be frozen for three years followed by a two per cent increase in 2015 as well as a one-time lump sum payment funded by the Province.
According to a CRPS press release, “the board reviewed the agreement, participated in Alberta School Board Association meetings to analyses the agreement and reviewed correspondence from education minister Jeff Johnson and his staff to inform their deliberations.”
The release also noted that prior to supporting the agreement, concerns were raised regarding the possible impacts on various school boards’ ability to manage budgets and operations.
“The CRPS board is accepting Minister Johnson’s assurances about how he will manage the key components of the agreement in a way that will work for school boards, teachers, and in the best interests of students,” the board stated in its press release.
Following the announcement of the tentative agreement, the Alberta Teachers Association indicated Alberta Education will conduct an internal review and third party study to examine how teacher workloads can be adjusted to improve the education experience for the province’s 600,000 students.
Despite the recent provincial budget, which projects CRPS to receive roughly $430,000 less than last year due to a decline in enrolment, for example, the education minister is confident school boards in rural Alberta will find ways to make things work.
“One of the great things about rural Alberta is it’s always been forced to lead with respect to working with new members and partnerships,” Johnson said during an education symposium in Canmore earlier this month.
“If you want to look to places that are doing most with the least amount of resources and grabbing some of the best practices from other jurisdictions, you look to rural Alberta because there’s a lot of innovation happening.
“I know what these guys are facing,” he added. “The decrease in enrolment and the challenge of keeping capital up and trying to offer equitable programming for our kids is something we’re paying very close attention to.”
CRPS has increased its number of international students to almost double what it had last year, which is one of the ways the school board is attempting to generate revenue.
“Not only does it put more kids in seats and earn revenue, but I think it has a lot of value in terms of our schools having multicultural and global aspects,” the minister said.
“Our kids are going to be entering a global economy and anything we can do to make them more relevant, more aware and more comfortable with a global economy is a good thing.”
