‘Where’s the funding?’

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This article was published 24/08/2023 (793 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Leaders of the teachers union are calling on members to remember the Tories’ austerity agenda when they vote in the Manitoba election this fall.

The agenda includes recent years of funding allotments that failed to keep up with inflation, in turn prompting school boards to lay off staff and increase class sizes.

More than 200 teachers, union leaders and public education advocates gathered outside the Manitoba Legislative Building on Thursday to recall the government’s record on the kindergarten-to-Grade 12 file and promote voter turnout in the Oct. 3 election.

“We need new books, art supplies, math manipulatives and (fewer) students in one room. We can’t seek support because our student services are spread too thin. Teachers, new and old, are burning out at an alarming rate. This needs to stop,” said Amita Khandpur, a classroom educator who teaches Grade 7/8 French immersion in Winnipeg.

In an impassioned speech, Khandpur told the crowd about the “severe burnout” she experienced several years ago when she was denied extra funding to support her students. She considered leaving the profession.

“I bawled to and from work because the pressure to produce adequate data, to create a rich learning environment, and to deliver satisfactory results was so crippling,” she said.

Throughout the rally organized by the Manitoba Teachers’ Society, speakers discussed the classroom-level impacts of what they called “underfunding.”

This year, the Stefanson government announced it would top up the public education budget by six per cent — the largest annual increase in at least 40 years — in response to the rising cost of teaching and transporting students.

Every school board was promised funding increases in 2023-24 in contrast to a half-dozen years during which many received decreases in spite of stable or rising enrolment.

Despite the 2023-24 announcement — which Education Minister Wayne Ewasko called “astronomical” in February — rally attendees spoke about the effect of budget constraints under the PCs, from decreases in full-day kindergarten offerings to trustees hiking property taxes in defiance of a government directive to limit cuts to their programming.

“The Manitoba PC government has increased funding to education by 23 per cent (overall)… but it’s not just about the amount of money. It’s about how do we get it to the students, how do we get it to you as teachers to make sure that it’s fair and equitable?” Ewasko said during an election panel that MTS organized with political candidates of all stripes one day prior to the rally.

Ewasko has repeatedly touted his office’s work to modernize the education funding formula.

Teachers need a government that has a robust plan for recruitment and retention across the profession, is committed to improving classroom working conditions, and will not introduce wage-freeze legislation, said MTS president Nathan Martindale.

“We need a government that won’t introduce legislation like Bill 64 (Education Modernization Act) and Bill 35 (Education Administration Amendment Act),” Martindale told the rally.

The unpopular reform plan that was Bill 64 — which sparked numerous lawn sign campaigns and was ultimately ripped up — sought to abolish Manitoba’s 36 English-language public school boards and replace them with a centralized authority run by government appointees.

Bill 35 was approved and will see the province launch a teacher registry and publish disciplinary records. MTS has been a vocal opponent of it, citing concerns the new system will entertain frivolous complaints and allow a new education panel to make decisions about a teacher’s professional competency.

Among witty rally signs, Thursday attendees held up posters bearing the phrases, “WTF: Where’s the funding?” and, “One fish, two fish, fully funded education is our wish.”

Shauna Chanas brought a simple message, written in bold font: “Class size matters.”

“I’m going to have a class of 28 students, many with different needs that I’m not sure I’m going to be able to meet,” Chanas said about the coming school year. “That’s what I sit up at night and worry about.”

The Grade 8 teacher said it’s going to be a struggle to spend enough one-on-one time with each of her pupils and develop trusting relationships with all of them — much like it was last year when she had a class list with 25 names on it.

Before voters head to the polls in autumn, she said she wants to hear candidates pledge to spend more money on education because the status quo is failing students, especially those with disabilities.

The education minister, NDP education critic Nello Altomare, and Ian MacIntyre, a Manitoba Liberal Party candidate — all of whom are former teachers — shared election promises and took jabs at one another during an MTS debate at the Delta Hotel on Wednesday.

Should they secure another term, the Tories have pledged to continue overhauling how the province pays for public schools and update the Public Schools Act to “modernize” parental rights.

The NDP and Liberal parties are campaigning on introducing universal school nutrition programs.

The former is also promising to reinstate a cap on elementary school class sizes. The latter’s platform includes launching a strategy to ensure all children are able to read by the end of Grade 2.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca