EDMONTON — Alberta’s education minister is weighing in after Premier Ed Stelmach blamed teachers for layoffs that school boards say are necessary due to tight budgets.
Dave Hancock said Tuesday that the Alberta Teachers’ Association did not walk away from talks aimed at freezing salaries as the premier stated.
Hancock said the two sides had six months of extensive discussions.
School boards across Alberta have said they may have to lay off more than 1,000 teachers to deal with budget shortfalls that come from having to fund a previously negotiated 4.5 per cent bump to teacher salaries.
Stelmach said Monday the union had a chance to accept a wage freeze for a couple of years — enough time to give the economy a chance to fully recover, but they wouldn’t do that so now some teachers will be out of a job.
Hancock says it’s more complicated than that, and the province has put money in the budget to cover this year’s increase.
Education did get a funding boost in the last provincial budget, but mainly to cover previously agreed to teachers’ raises.
According to the school boards, the budget fell $107 million short of what was needed to maintain current staffing levels.
ATA President Carol Henderson said the government never made the union an offer to reopen their contract to protect teaching jobs.