The bad news is that teachers have decided to strike.
The good news is that the government has adopted our idea to give money to parents to help out during the strike.
Let's dig into the details:
The Strike
Teachers have overwhelmingly rejected a deal with the Government of Alberta in which the Province seemingly met every demand the Alberta Teachers’ Association (ATA) made to improve classroom conditions.
Both sides of this negotiation are now treating a teacher strike as inevitable.
The ATA has claimed that a strike is no big deal, because teachers are professionals and can catch students up in the event of a learning disruption.
But if that’s true, why are students still suffering from the effects of the COVID school closures on their learning?
The ATA also insisted that they would not strike over wages, but only classroom conditions.
But the Province had already agreed to fund every publicly disclosed proposal related to classroom conditions - including the addition of 3,000 new teachers and at least 1,500 new educational assistants.
Teachers themselves seem to still be concerned about class sizes and classroom complexity, but the ATA is speaking primarily about wages.
So, we appear to be heading into a teacher strike over wages, after all.
This, despite the offer including a 12.5% across-the-board raise for all teachers and a more generous long-service allowance that will increase wages even further for the most experienced teachers.
Parent Payment Program
In response to the strike, the Government of Alberta announced today that they will be implementing a “Parent Payment Program” to help parents respond to their children's needs during the strike.
Eligible parents will be able to register to receive $30 per child per day of labour action.
The payments will be made by e-transfer, starting from October 6th and continuing through the end of any labour action.
To be eligible, children must be:
- Twelve years old or younger
- Enrolled in a public, separate, or francophone school
- A resident of Alberta (as the parent must also be)
The money for these payments will come from per-student instructional grants that go unspent during a teacher strike.
This looks a whole lot like the “Education Continuity Allowance” that we proposed earlier this year!
The Alberta Parents’ Union was the first organization to suggest that unused education money follow the child to help parents in the event of a teacher strike - all the way back on June 11th!
We pointed out, more recently, that this was especially needed, since the strike would take place after the September Count Date that determines so much of educational funding.
This kind of expert knowledge and timely recommendations to the government to help parents is an example of why your support of the Alberta Parents’ Union is so important.
When we can count on parents, grandparents, and taxpayers having our back, we can spend our time innovating ideas to support families that are too good for the government to ignore.
But unlike the Alberta Teachers’ Association, we don’t force anyone to join.
Unlike the ATA, we will never take taxpayer money because you should get to decide whose voice you want to amplify with your money!
Unfortunately, you’re already funding the ATA, while they work to disrupt children’s educations to extract even more money from your pocket.
But today, you can join the tiny team that works the hardest to fight for students and parents:
Working Ahead So Kids Don’t Fall Behind,