Alberta Teachers' Association concerned job cuts coming

Jason Schilling - ATA President Alberta Teachers' Association President Jason Schilling discusses the end of the school year and looks ahead to next September.

Michael Higgins: You've been ringing alarm bells lately, stating education jobs are in jeopardy. How is that possible given the pace of enrollment growth?

Jason Schilling: Well, there's two things that we're seeing here right now. I mean, Alberta is the least funded education jurisdiction in all of Canada. And we're seeing the ramifications of that. We're also seeing the impacts of a weighted moving average that school boards are being used. And the clip there you show to introduce this highlights larger boards that have increased enrollment aren't being able to keep up with the pace. And now we're seeing school boards across the province, cutting teacher positions, at least 24 boards are cutting up to about 250 teaching positions this fall.

Michael Higgins: Those cuts, what are you basing that on? Where do you derive that information?

Jason Schilling: That information is coming from the funding profiles that school boards are putting on their websites. And so we are seeing school boards, in order to balance their budgets, fiscal constraints are some of the other reasons that you're seeing there, right sizing of budgets. They're talking about cutting teacher positions, cutting programs, making classes into multiple classrooms, look, a grade three-four split, all sorts of things to try to make this budget work that's obviously not working.

Michael Higgins: Why is that when the government has increased the education budget and is the government not making further funding available for the fastest growing divisions?

Jason Schilling: They're making funding available, but it's not enough. We're the least funded jurisdiction in all of Canada, and we saw a budget that had a 4.4 per cent increase, we needed a 13.5 per cent increase just to be the Canadian average. That is well short of what our schools and our students and our teachers need across this province. And teachers are burning out and leaving the profession trying to make ends meet that, you know, you can only do so much more with less. And we're going to see a really tricky fall come up this the school year as we leave this one and start the new one in the fall.

Michael Higgins: If jobs are being cut, where do you see teachers going? Are there positions to be found outside of the public education system?

Jason Schilling: Our research shows that some teachers are retiring early, some are leaving to work in other provinces where they don't feel like public education is undermined so dramatically as we see in this province, and some are just choosing to leave the profession altogether. And that is a big concern. And we need to be looking at ways that we can rectify that so that we can get teachers in front of kids to deliver the best education program that we can.

Michael Higgins: OK so job cuts, but are there not also job postings going unfilled?

Jason Schilling: Well, we're seeing that in some jurisdictions as well. And that's part of that teacher retention issue that we're seeing in areas in sort of north of the Edmonton area. Specifically, we're unable to fill some positions this entire year. So that increases the class sizes for all the other classes that are there. They cut programs when we know that our urbans are also struggling to fill up positions, especially substitute teacher positions has been a problem throughout this year, throughout the province. And you're just not finding teachers who are willing to take on that occasional substitute teaching.

Michael Higgins: OK, on the health sector side, much being made of doctors leaving the province, retiring from the profession. You echoed some of that a moment ago. How though are teachers reflecting on their futures, the state of their profession?

Jason Schilling: Well, we've seen a lot of undermining of the profession the last couple of years. Funding is a big one. And the fact that we're not funding our classrooms appropriately. Class sizes are increasing the complexities that teachers are dealing with post-pandemic, especially the emotional social needs of our students are really quite profound. The mental health needs of our students is a lot right now. But we're also seeing teachers who are dealing with a new curriculum that they've not been able to give input on to, you know, elementary school teachers are going to be dealing with a social studies curriculum, which is on top of a math curriculum that's not working and serving kids. Well, English, science and phys. ed, and financial wellness. That's a lot to do at one time. And now we're just we're seeing the ramifications of all of these pressure points and a government that is refusing to listen.

Michael Higgins: Is that or is this just the reality that so many Albertans face regardless of the working environment and having to do more with less, and it takes a toll on lives and livelihood?

Jason Schilling: Oh, definitely it does. But we're also talking about the education of our students and their future. And that's what we're shortchanging right now. That's what the government is shortchanging right now is the future of Alberta students in this province. They're not providing the resources that they need. I've talked to many colleagues in schools who, for instance, want to do special ed testing for students but they can't afford to give the test to the students. And so not everybody's getting tested right now. That's a shameful fact. When we look at our classrooms that this government is going to have to carry forward as their legacy. And I know that things are hard all over, but we are also dealing with our students, and we need to ensure that they're getting the best possible education that they can get.

Michael Higgins: On another front, let's touch on the government's decision to ban mobile devices in classrooms. How is this resonating with teachers? It is a move they support, is it not?

Jason Schilling: Well, this ban that they put in place actually reflects policy that teachers passed at our annual representative assembly this last May. My question, however, is going to be around the implementation and just what kind of support teachers and principals will have from government and school boards when they have to implement these policies. And the timelines are a little tight for those that don't have policies in place already. We already know that schools and some districts have these policies in place and have been working with this for the last couple of years. But we've had some that have not. So it'll be a question to see how they'll be able to get everything in place in the timeframe that is laid out.

Michael Higgins: Is that a question for the government? Is that a question for school boards? Who needs to pick up the ball though?

Jason Schilling: Well, it's a little bit both. You look at the ministerial order that just came out the other day, the policy goes into effect on September 1, but school boards don't have to have the policy in place until January 1, 2025. So I don't know why those dates don't align. That doesn't make much sense to me. You need to have conversations with parents and teachers and school leaders, and especially the kids to make sure that there's buy in on this policy. So that is not so much of a struggle when it starts but a lot of my colleagues who are working with policies like this right now, quite enjoy it, and they use them as smart devices in their classrooms when it's appropriate for them to do so.

Michael Higgins: OK, so whether it's seeking clarity on the pending cell phone ban, or are concerned over anticipated cuts, how soon before your next meeting with the education minister?

Jason Schilling: Well, that's a great question. I'll have to reach out and have conversations. I try to talk to him as regularly as possible. But I mean, there's only so much talking you can do before you need to actually see some action on the government's part to address these issues. You know, class size complexity, we've talked about aggression with the minister, we need to actually see the government have some political will and move forward on some of the issues that we're talking about with them.