The President of the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation says the provincial government has once again announced ad-hoc funding to avoid being held accountable.

Samantha Becotte states, “This is exactly what we predicted would happen and has come only after an enormous amount of public pressure. Our education system cannot function properly if it is reliant on ad-hoc, politically motivated funding announcements that come and go at the whim of the Minister.”

In a statement sent in the wake of the Premier’s video release announcing the largest increase ever in school operating funding in Saskatchewan — a hike of 180-million-dollars to 2.2-billion — the STF says it will not return to the bargaining table until government and Saskatchewan School Boards Association are willing to include a commitment in the collective agreement.

STF has said the main thrust of what they want from government is to have class size and complexity written into their contract while Premier Scott Moe has said policies around those issues should be decided by elected school boards.

Becotte says, “Despite government’s funding decisions, student needs don’t come and go with election cycles.” She also stresses that teachers do not want to be taking job action and as far as the STF is concerned if government is truly committed to the funding and improving learning conditions then they’d put it in the collective agreement.

Premier Scott Moe describes his announcement yesterday as the “unusual step” of announcing part of the education budget two weeks before budget day. Moe revealed the information in a short video posted on social media Wednesday afternoon.

Two weeks from today, the new provincial budget will deliver the largest ever increase in school operating funding and a record new commitment to address classroom size and complexity.

Today, I am taking the unusual step of announcing part of the education budget prior to budget… pic.twitter.com/gSPTgZRz9K

— Scott Moe (@PremierScottMoe) March 6, 2024