Empty New Schools?

Although our constituency is still basking in the glow of newly announced schools, there still remain some dark clouds on the horizon.

The new concern is this: will our local school board be able to afford to hire the new teachers necessary to fully staff our new schools? After all, without teachers in them, schools are nothing more than expensive empty buildings.

With hundreds of teaching positions being cut across the province, many parents, teachers and students are scratching their heads wondering why we are cutting teachers with all the new school announcements and increasing student population.

The Premier expressed his own thoughts on the issue last week blaming the cuts on teachers for not agreeing to a salary freeze. Teachers had made the ‘outrageous’ request that the terms of their agreement with the Government signed four years ago be respected (does this sound familiar to landowners or anyone working in the oil patch? Thought so).

You see, four years ago, our good friend Ron Liepert and the PC Cabinet patted themselves on their backs by using vast amounts of your tax money to buy five years of labour peace with the Alberta Teachers Association. Not only did they cover the Government's portion of the unfunded liability for teachers’ pensions (which they were right to do), they also decided to pay a couple extra billion for the teachers' portion of the unfunded pension liability as well.

The PCs then went further, offering to tie annual teacher salary increases to the average weekly wage index. This index, which incidentally is what MLA salaries are irresponsibly tied to, is consistently higher than the cost of living index (otherwise known as the rate of inflation). Frankly, it was an offer the ATA could not refuse; and with the PC Cabinet giving themselves a 34% raise shortly thereafter, the teachers’ contract didn't sound all that unreasonable.

This is what 'spending like drunken sailors' looks like in real life.

The fact is the contract was not a good one for taxpayers. I, like most others, feel teaching is one of society's most important professions. Our Alberta teachers should be paid well...and they are - the highest in Canada in fact. The problem is that by raising teachers' salaries at the unsustainable rate this most recent contract did (roughly 9% over the past 2 years during an economic recession when inflation was only about 2%), even a very large 4.5% increase in education spending by the PCs this year will not be enough to avoid cuts to front line teaching positions.

So not only do we have two consecutive record provincial cash shortfalls (totaling over $13 billion) despite $100 per barrel oil; school boards are being forced to cut teachers.

And the Government is blaming teachers? Really? Wasn’t this very Government running around Alberta telling teachers how great this deal was during the last election? Wasn’t their first order of business after the election to give their Cabinet and the Premier a 34% raise? To blame the teachers for this problem is a political farce.

The fact is the financial mess we find ourselves in is entirely the fault of the financial managers who got us here. The PCs can't make an irresponsible offer to teachers in order to buy political points and then turn around and blame them for taking it.

Contrast this with the Wildrose solution.

The Wildrose wants our school boards to be in a position to hire more teachers. We also want our provincial budget to be balanced. So how do we arrive at both? It's really quite simple. We will sit down with the ATA with these 2 principles as the starting point and negotiate a contract that makes it possible.

Likely, teachers’ salaries (as well as MLAs and all other positions paid for by taxpayers) should be tied to the much more sustainable rate of inflation, at least until salaries are more in line with the other large provinces instead of way higher.

It also means providing school boards with stable, predictable and long-term funding that will enable them to pay for the teachers they need to effectively educate our children. The days of year-to-year roller coaster education funding from the provincial government must end.

This story is getting old. Whether its healthcare, seniors, social services or education, the PCs seem incapable of resisting the temptation to throw billions of your hard earned tax dollars to temporarily bandage problems they create. What we need is a Government that sets out clear principles and objectives, and then negotiates and works with front line stakeholders to solve those problems permanently...not just hide them through the next election.