New Democratic Party Leader Ryan Meili promised on Oct. 1 to reduce class sizes in schools should the NDP form the next government.
Meili promised to make $125 million available to address over-crowded classrooms. This funding could fund 1,000 teachers, 750 educational assistants (EAs) and 400 caretakers in addition to the $10 million previously allocated to addressing mental health in schools.
Some of that money would be rolled out in this school year, Meili said.
Of the 61 NDP candidates running in this election, 14 are teachers.
Speaking in Saskatoon, Gillian Strange, NDP candidate for Saskatoon Northwest, said, 鈥淚'm one of the 14 candidates who are teachers in this election. We are here because the Sask Party has failed us, has failed the EAs and has failed our children. We experienced firsthand the damage that education cuts do when class sizes are so large, they don't allow us to help every child in our classes learn. This worst in the country school reopening plan has increased stress load for school staffs, for families and most destructively for our students.鈥�
Strange is running against Saskatchewan Party Education Minister Gord Wyant.
Meili said, 鈥淲e have a choice in this election, a choice between a government that has told us through their record and through their own words, that their plan going forward is a plan of austerity, of more cuts, versus our plan, which is a plan of investment in the things that matter most. It's a choice between a government that will actually listen to what's on people's minds, hear their anxiety and take it seriously, or a government that gaslights the population, tries to tell us that everything's just fine, when we know how serious the challenges are in our schools today.鈥�
鈥淭hrough these last few weeks, parents across this province have struggled, have wrestled with the choice of whether or not to send their kids back to school. I know it's something we've lost sleep about at our house, and so many families have, not to mention the stress that teachers and staff and administrators have been under after Scott Moe brought in the worst back to school plan in the entire country. He had all summer to come up with a plan. He released a completely empty plan in August had to delay the school year by a week, leaving everyone scrambling and afterwards tried to say that that was just fine, that there were no problems with that approach, as he put all the pressure and all the responsibility down onto divisions and schools and individual teachers without the support they need to succeed.
鈥淣ow those teachers and divisions in schools have stepped up remarkably, they've done an incredible job working so hard to protect our children protect our community, they deserve a government that will step up for them. But this government has done nothing.鈥�
Meili said the Saskatchewan Party planned on austerity in the future. 鈥淭hat's the wrong approach. Now is the time to invest. That's why as New Democrats we commit today to an investment of $150 million in Saskatchewan schools. A $125 million of that will be dedicated to allowing divisions, helping divisions to overcome the chronic understaffing. This will allow them to hire hundreds more teachers, hundreds more EAs, hundreds more caretakers so that we can have smaller classes; more supports for those kids who need extra help and safer schools.鈥�
To pay for this, Meili pointed to the NDP鈥檚 plan announced earlier in the week to implement a one per cent tax on 鈥渢he very wealthiest among us.鈥�
鈥淚t's time for us to put people first. And with this funding, we can support students and teachers. We can decrease class sizes and we can make a generational investment in the future of this province,鈥� he said.聽聽
Meili said the province would have to build new schools, as well as work with schools to expand capacity through the use of portable classrooms.
鈥淭his is where we really differ from the Sask Party. We'll build the schools. But we'll also make sure the staff is in there to take care of the kids.鈥�
He added, 鈥淏efore the pandemic, we were talking about specific cap size. I think we need to talk a bit differently. Now, as we understand how important it is, with the pandemic, to reduce class sizes. From a safety point of view, we're going to work with divisions to arrive at that number.鈥�
In response, Saskatchewan Party Leader Scott Moe said, 鈥淭he tax hike that the NDP proposed yesterday, they spent already this morning. At over a billion dollars in promises prior to that, they are going to have to expand their tax hike to all Saskatchewan people. That is their M.O. (modus operandi).鈥�
Moe said it was nothing new that the NDP would talk about class sizes again, noting, 鈥淭hey have no plan on how they would actually achieve what they have committed to.鈥�
He said the Saskatchewan Party has built 57 new schools 鈥淏ecause we have additional kids here in the province, because people have chosen to make Saskatchewan their home.鈥�
