STF asks voters to support education in municipal, provincial elections

The Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation asking teachers, businesses owners, and everyone else in the province to vote for public education this fall.

Federation president Samantha Becotte said the union aims to make public education “a key issue” in Saskatchewan’s upcoming provincial and municipal elections.

“We want politicians and policy makers to take the crisis in education seriously,” Becotte said. “We want all parties and candidates to know what the most pressing issues are in our schools.”

Becotte said she wants all candidates to make three commitments around education:

• restore and maintain per-student funding at 2015-16 levels;
• address issues around class size and complexity; and
• address concerns around violence in classrooms and schools

“These commitments reflect the issues that Saskatchewan teachers have been raising with government for a decade,” Becotte said.

“Saskatchewan students deserve a well-resourced education system that helps them learn, grow and thrive.”

Samantha Becotte, president of the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation. (980 CJME file photo)

Over the coming months, Becotte said the union will be sharing information about the realities in classrooms and what it thinks the solutions are, along with questions for candidates to help inform voters heading to the polls.

Becotte reiterated that the federation is non-partisan, and won’t endorse a specific party despite the union’s very public battle with the Sask. Party over a new collective agreement, which is currently in the arbitration process.

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“We are pro public education,” Becotte said. “We’re pro kids, pro students. That’s where our position is. We want to see good public policy that will support a high-quality education here in Saskatchewan, and it doesn’t matter who it comes from. We would love to see any political party in Saskatchewan taking these asks from our platform and incorporating them into their own election platform.”

Becotte said the federation’s goals apply to municipal elections for school board trustees as well as to the provincial election.

“We need to have individuals elected to those school trustee roles who we know are going to speak out and advocate for kids,” she said.

“That is their role. They need to have a voice within this process. They need to be advocating not only with government, but publicly to share the realities that students, teachers and all school staff are experiencing within this province.”

The provincial election must be held on or before October 28, while municipal elections will take place November 13. The nomination deadline for anyone interested in running for a school board position is Oct. 9.