Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides says the Alberta government will spend no more than $2.6 billion over four years in new spending to resolve a contract dispute with striking teachers.
“The $2.6 billion is what we have available,” Nicolaides said in an interview Wednesday.
“We are happy to work within that scope to give teachers a raise [in wages] and help address some of the increasingly complex issues we see in our classrooms. But we have a limited segment that we are operating with.”
Last month, nearly 90 per cent of Alberta Teachers’ Association (ATA) members voted against a contract that would cost the province’s treasury an additional $2.6 billion between 2024 and 2028.
The rejected offer included a 12 per cent across-the-board pay rise, plus a salary table merger in 2026 that would give some teachers pay increases of up to five per cent.
The offer included the government’s promise to pay the cost of adding 3,000 more teaching positions and 1,500 more educational assistants to schools.
The stalemate led 51,000 teachers to leave their jobs on Monday.
Classes are canceled in some 2,000 public, Catholic and French-speaking schools throughout the province.
The Teacher Employers Bargaining Association, which negotiates with the ATA on behalf of the government and school boards, will lock out teachers starting Thursday afternoon.
On Tuesday, Nicolaides told CBC radio The Calgary Revelation that the provincial government was open to hearing how many teachers the ATA believes would be suitable to improve classroom conditions.
In an interview on Wednesday, he clarified that funding more than the promised 3,000 teaching positions would come at the expense of other parts of the offer.
“There would have to be trade-offs,” he said. “We are very eager for the ATA to come back to the table and present a proposal.”
Teachers have twice rejected the blanket pay offer of 12 per cent pay rises over four years, saying it does not offset their salaries with inflation or take into account their additional workloads.
ATA president Jason Schilling has said Alberta would need at least 5,000 more teachers to meet the average class size guidelines recommended in a 2003 Alberta Commission on Learning (ACOL) report, one of the main outcomes of a 2002 teachers’ strike.
The ACOL report says research at the time showed that smaller class sizes made the biggest difference for children in younger grades and socioeconomically disadvantaged students.
The ACOL report recommended that Alberta school divisions aim to have, on average, kindergarten to third grade classes with 17 students, fourth to sixth grade classes with 23 students, middle school classes with 25 students, and middle school classes with 27 students.
The Alberta government canceled class size reporting in 2019. Data from Edmonton Public Schools, which still tracks it, and anecdotes from teachers, students and parents suggest class sizes in many schools are much larger than those recommendations.
Although Nicolaides said he believes class size is important, he believes class size limits are “arbitrary” and do not improve students’ academic performance.
He did not directly respond to a question about whether the government is interested in reaching the recommended class size.
“Having a class size limit of 22 versus 29 has no impact on that student’s academic performance,” he said.
“Most importantly, we build more schools, hire more teachers, bring more EE into classrooms, and help address the conditions we’re seeing.”
In a statement, the ATA said it was worrying to hear the minister call limits on class sizes “arbitrary.”
The statement says provincial policy has long recognized that “reasonable” student-teacher ratios are critical to student success, especially in the early grades, and the principle is evidence-based.
“When class sizes continue to increase, teachers have less time to understand each student, personalize instruction, and build the trust that drives growth and safety,” the ATA statement reads. “These human factors, much more than simple test results, define educational quality.”
The ATA said hiring more teachers is a temporary solution for large, complex classes.
“Formally establishing teacher-student ratios will ensure that Alberta classrooms are permanently protected from financial neglect, making quality learning conditions a non-negotiable standard in the future,” the statement reads.
Last week, Premier Danielle Smith said her government was unwilling to consider limits on class sizes because the province does not have adequate school space.
NDP education critic Amanda Chapman said Wednesday the minister’s comments are out of touch with reality.
“Right now we’re not really talking about whether we have 22 or 29 kids in a classroom,” he said.
“We’re talking about whether we have 22 or 40 kids in a classroom, because those are the classroom sizes that we’re hearing about that are causing concerns.”
Chapman said education policymakers must also consider a student’s school experience, not just their report cards.
He pointed to a high school science class so full that students were assigned to labs to work in groups of four rather than pairs.
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Chapman said it is unreasonable to put a limit on the amount of funding needed to improve the education system, and it should not be the ATA’s responsibility to negotiate adequate school staffing as part of its labor contracts.
He said it was the government’s decision to keep increases in K-12 education funding below enrollment growth and inflation rates, and that has led to inadequate staffing to meet the diverse needs of students.
Chapman said it would still make a difference for students if schools had more funding to hire additional teachers, educational assistants, psychologists, mental health therapists and other professionals.
“If you talk to teachers, complexity in the classroom is absolutely their number one problem right now,” Chapman said, referring to the growing number of students with disabilities, behavioral or mental health issues, medical needs or English learners.
Teachers in several other provinces, including BC, Ontario and Quebec, have limits on class sizes or the number of students in each class with complex needs. The caps are in legislation or written in teachers’ contracts.
University of Alberta education policy studies professor Darryl Hunter said Wednesday that other jurisdictions adopted such policies after legal action or advocacy from teachers who wanted to make working conditions in schools more manageable.
He said class size is one of many factors that can affect a student’s experience in the classroom. He said a reasonable class size depends on the age of the students, the composition of the class, the subject they are studying and whether there are any safety concerns.
“I wouldn’t want to have 42 students in a chemistry class,” Hunter said. “Something would explode.”
The limits tend to increase the amount of bureaucracy in schools, which may not serve students well, he said.
However, Hunter said academic achievement is not the only goal of public education. He said students also need to be in environments where they can communicate and work together.
