BCTF pleased with province’s funding changes, ready to go back to bargaining
Posted February 7, 2020 6:54 pm.
Last Updated February 7, 2020 7:10 pm.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — The BC Teacher’s Federation applauds the province’s decision to abandon a controversial plan to fund special education based on statistics rather than students.
This concession from the province may bode well for the next round of negotiations in the protracted contract talks. The province’s teachers have been without a contract since June, 2019.
The province has backed off of the so-called “prevalence model,” which funds support and special education for students based on how common a given condition is in the general population.
According to the union president, that kind of funding model falls short.
“Teachers have been working hard to convince the government to back off a proposal to fund special education based on population statistics instead of actual identified student needs,” says BCTF President Teri Mooring.
“We were concerned about severing the tie between those identified needs and the funding, and we’ve seen in other jurisdictions it has led to underfunding.”
The province has also added a supplement for students who are in government care.
“We particularly are pleased to see additional money for children in care, that’s a really important segment of our students that need that support,” Mooring says, adding the funding supplement will be used to provide counselling, meal programs, and extra tutoring.
She says this more inclusive approach gives her hope the province’s teacher shortage will be addressed and the next round of bargaining will be productive.
“It takes away that level of uncertainty from the table and that’s certainly helpful and so, we look forward to getting back to the table without this uncertainty associated with it.”
However, teachers are anxious to get back to the table and are looking forward to dates being set for the next round of talks.
“We are hopeful that we get dates soon. BCTF is ready to be at the table tomorrow and would like to be there all of February,” Mooring says.
The union has “contingency plans” for job action but Mooring says the priority remains settling on a contract.
“What we’re really focusing on is getting a deal,” she says. “But we’ve been at the table for a year. That’s a long time and there just has not been enough progress.”