SASK VOTES 2024: Parents ready to grade party education promises

With Saskatchewan’s election underway, many parents are keeping a close eye on education promises from each party.

“The teachers are stretched pretty thin for the size of the classes and the complexities of the students in the classes too … there’s more support that’s required for sure,” said parent Chris Sarrasin.

Since the last provincial election there have education controversies in the province, including the introduction of the Saskatchewan’s Parents’ Bill of Rights in 2023, and ongoing teacher contract disputes.

The bill of rights says parents have to give consent if a child under the age of 16 wants to change their name or pronouns at school. Parents also have the right to pull their kids out of sexual education classes.

Arbitration in the dispute between the teachers and the province over wages and class complexity is scheduled to take place in Saskatoon between Dec. 16 and 20.

The NDP has promised $2 billion over five years to reduce classroom sizes, and it plans to build new schools in White City and Moose Jaw.

The Saskatchewan Party plans to help schools by boosting education spending by $180 million. Plus, schools can also set up an innovation fund, where teachers can receive money to reduce classroom violence or make improvements.

Harbour Landing School in Regina has been overcrowded since it opened. (980 CJME file photo)

Overcrowding an issue

According to the Ministry of Education, there were 195,582 students in the province’s 27 school divisions during the 2023-2024 school year, up from 189,924 in 2022-23.

Anusha Poluru has a child in Grade 2 at Harbour Landing Elementary School in Regina, and said her daughter is in a very full classroom.

“In Grade 2 they have 34 kids,” she said.

Poluru expressed concern that her daughter was not getting enough time with the teacher with so many students.

Construction is underway for a new joint-use school in Harbour Landing, slated to open in 2026.

Kathleen Eisler, chair of the Harbour Landing School Community Council, said overcrowding in the school has been a concern for years.

“That school is needed right now,” Eisler said.

Harbour Landing Elementary is built to hold between around 700 students, but as of Sept. 12 it had 975, according to Eisler.

A few years ago, Eisler said the school held around 1,000 students, but was re-zoned to remove 180 students. She said classrooms have since filled back up.

“We are now back to the library being out of the presentation stairs, and that library space being used as a classroom,” she said. “There were some classrooms made a few years ago with they call dirt walls, those are being used.

“The music room is now a studio classroom, meaning it has two classrooms in it so it is no longer used for music.”

Eisler said an extra school would help with crowded classrooms, but was concerned about how close the school will be situated.

“We are getting to those numbers again where we are depending on those people just being absent in order to meet fire criteria,” she said.

Parents struggle to get help for complex needs

Eva Dawn Backstrom, parent of a child on the autism spectrum, said it was a barrier every step of the way to get help for her daughter in the classroom.

“For her to get any kind of supports we really had to fight tooth and nail for it, right from the very get go,” she said.

Backstrom said it was a challenge to get a teacher’s assistant for her daughter, so she could be taught adapted lessons.

“It was a lot of fighting,” she said. “All the way from Grade 4 to Grade 12 for her.”

Backstrom’s daughter has now graduated, but she said she feels for parents who are struggling to get support for their kids.

Classroom complexities like this were among the top issues in teacher contract negotiations. The Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation argued that it should be in the contract, while the Saskatchewan Party increased funding to help students in the classroom.

— With files from the Canadian Press and CJME News.

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