The pink flags of CUPE flew in front of the Saskatchewan Legislative Building as education workers from across Saskatchewan stood on the steps and the NDP called on the provincial Government to increase operating funding to divisions to end cuts to staffing levels.
Education Critic Matt Love said that not only is the Government leaving kids behind, but those who work with the kids.
Love said having the best province in Canada to be a kid, raise a kid and serve kids in schools starts with taking care of those essential adults who work in schools and to pay those adults who nurture kids with their work.
Matt Love, NDP MLA for Saskatoon Eastview, who also taught in that constituency, stated that staff to student ratios are climbing while funding per student plummet.
The government’s director of communications responded by email Tuesday afternoon, saying that the average class size proxy this year is 19.1, which is down slightly from pre-pandemic levels in 2019-20, when it was 19.2.
Rob Westfield, an education support worker and chair of CUPE Saskatchewan’s Education Workers’ Steering Committee says the Government’s failure to fund growth is essentially a cut to education.
With files from CKRM