With the teacher's ratification vote passing by 93.4 per cent provincially last Friday, teachers on the Coast are now turning their attention to Bill 33 and providing students with the best education possible.
"There are two parts to our focus. First, teachers want to provide the very best education they possibly can with the resources they have," Sunshine Coast Teachers' Association president Denis Fafard said in an interview with Coast Reporter this week. "The second part is a political fight. We are committed to continuing the work that began in October to improve the learning conditions. That's something we gave up two weeks of salary fighting for with our job action."
Bill 33, an Education Status Amendment Act, was passed by in the B.C. Legislature in May. The bill amended the school act to include class size and composition limits, new conditions for distributed learning and a change in the obligation of school boards to report to the B.C. College of Teachers.
Fafard says the intent of Bill 33 is good and shows the government acknowledges the need to deal with growing concerns over class size and composition. He says the changes put forward by Bill 33 can't be fully enacted without proper funding.
"Bill 33 is a small step in the right direction, but government cannot enact legislation if it doesn't follow with the funding needed. The school boards have been instructed to carry out the legislation, and if they don't, they could be replaced. They need to enact it, but they have no extra money to do so," Fafard said.
He said teachers on the Coast will work with the B.C. Teachers' Federation to make Bill 33 work and lobby the government for adequate funding.
"Our province had a $1.3 billion surplus this year. It seems to me the province can reasonably invest in the education environment of our kids with some of that surplus," Fafard said.
When asked if another strike could be on the horizon over Bill 33, Fafard was doubtful, but said it's a possibility.
"If people think it's easy to go on strike, I was the strike co-ordinator last year, and I can say it's not easy. I heard over and over again from teachers that they didn't want to be away from their kids. But last year at this time, class sizes were all over the place. Now we're seeing a change in that, but it seems nothing is done until it becomes a crisis," Fafard said.
