The British Columbia Court of Appeal has ruled in favour of the BC Government, stripping the power to control classroom sizes and composition from teachers.
Bulkley Valley Teachers Union President Ilona Weiss is disappointed by today’s outcome, saying “this government keeps stripping money from education.”
Teachers have been fighting this since 2002, and Weiss says that schools need more funding for special education specialists to balance classrooms sizes.
Weiss states “we have classrooms where you have 6, 7, 8 kids that have very specific, special needs and when you’re one [teacher in the classroom, its hard to address all of the needs. The kids who don’t need the extra help are often the one’s who aren’t getting what they need because you’re so busy addressing all of the other the special needs in you class.”
Weiss adds her biggest fear is losing teachers from being overworked, and for teachers to continue losing rates.
The Teacher’s Union will appeal this decision to the Supreme Court of Canada.