Alberta to fast-track Back to School Act on Monday

The Alberta government issued an Order Paper on Thursday, highlighting that it will table legislation on Monday to force striking teachers back to work.

The Alberta government issued an Order Paper on Thursday, highlighting that it will table legislation on Monday to force striking teachers back to work as hundreds of thousands of students have been out of class for three weeks.

According to the Order Paper, Bill 2, the Back to School Act, will be introduced and advanced through all legislative stages in a single day under Standing Order 77(2), with debate at each stage limited to one hour.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Finance told True North that the government is ensuring that students and teachers can return to the classrooms as soon as possible.

“The decision to introduce the Back to School Act was not taken lightly, but it is the only responsible path forward to end ongoing disruptions, close achievement gaps, and restore confidence in our education system,” said the spokesperson.

The government’s move follows nearly three weeks of provincewide job action involving about 51,000 teachers and 2,500 schools, affecting roughly 750,000 students.

The government’s last contract offer included a 12 per cent wage increase over four years, hiring 3,000 new teachers and 1,500 educational assistants, and lifting pay grids so that more than 95 per cent of teachers would see raises of up to 17 per cent.

Teachers overwhelmingly rejected that proposal, with 89.5 per cent voting against it. Alberta Teachers’ Association president Jason Schilling launched the strike with few clear demands on what would be required to end the strike.

Schilling has accused the government of “underfunding public education,” citing classroom complexity and staff shortages as key issues.

However, Smith has questioned whether class size caps are enforceable, noting that Alberta already has roughly 35,000 full-time teachers for 740,000 students, or about 21 students per teacher. However, Schilling referenced that the strike affected 51,000 teachers, not 35,000, which would be around a 15:1 student-to-teacher ratio.

“We just simply have a space restriction,” Smith said earlier this month. “We just had 100,000 kids almost come into the system in three years, and we have a physical space restriction that we are working through.”

The finance ministry told True North that it prefers to negotiate, but absent a reasonable offer being presented, action to restore and protect students’ right to learn can be taken.

“The government engaged in extensive negotiations with the Alberta Teachers’ Association over the past 18 months to reach a fair and reasonable settlement. Despite these efforts, two failed votes on settlements either proposed or supported by the ATA, and a refusal by the ATA to engage in enhanced mediation, the ongoing strike has continued to harm students and families,” said the ministry spokesperson.