The President of the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation, Patrick Maze, today acknowledged Premier Scott Moe has made good on his promise to reinstate $30 million in education funding — a promise he made during the recent leadership race.
However, Maze said that doesn’t make up for the $54 million taken out of classrooms last year.
“Inflation was running at 1.7 percent last year and is currently tracking at 2.7 percent in Saskatchewan, so a 1.6 percent increase in education spending this year won’t keep up with inflationary pressures,” Maze said.
“Plus, with more students and fewer teachers, today’s budget won’t make it any easier to meet the needs of students.”
Today’s budget increases spending on education by 1.6 percent to school operating funding, an increase over last year of $30 million. The overall budget for education this fiscal year is $2.5 billion.
There will be no new capital projects this year, with overall capital spending in education held to $76.4 million.
Last year, we saw a net increase of 2,500 students and 188 fewer teachers. This budget falls short of addressing that reality.
Maze also pointed to recent public opinion polling conducted for the STF showing education is seen as a crucial part of Saskatchewan’s quality of life, a growing number of people who don’t think education is being adequately funded and the highest level of confidence in teachers when it comes to making decisions in the school system.
“On that score, we seem to be only part of the way towards achieving the concerns articulated by the public in our recent poll,” Maze said.
