The British Columbia Teachers’ Federation (BCTF) headed back to B.C. Supreme Court on Sept. 9 to face off against the B.C. Liberal Government in its ongoing battle over teachers’ constitutional rights.
The BCTF plans to tell Madame Justice Susan Griffin the government has not respected her landmark decision in 2011, when she determined the province violated teachers’ constitutional rights.
Cariboo-Chilcotin Teachers’ Association president Murray Helmer says the BCTF seems “disappointed” no remedies have been offered in the two years since the decision, despite the court’s one-year deadline that expired in April 2012.
“I think [BCTF leaders] were anticipating a much greater win than they got in the courts, and that’s why they are back in the courts now.”
The union wants provisions such as class-size limits and specialist teacher levels restored.
Griffin had ruled Bill 22 unconstitutionally removed them from the collective agreement in 2002, he explains.
“We’ve been functioning in a school system that has been missing a lot of its key staffing components for going on 11 years now.”
Bill 22 removed a lot of positions from schools, Helmer notes, including teacher-librarians, counsellors and learning support staff.
“We’ve been able to put little bits and pieces together to make a support system for the kids, but it’s nowhere near the levels that we had in 2002, before those requirements were taken out of the collective agreement.”
He says funding for students with special needs is now limited and pooled, with support doled out for those students who are the most in need of one-to-one learning support.
Students with special needs are those most in need of support and the most vulnerable children in the school system, Helmer adds.
Locally, he explains the School District #27 board has “been good” to ensure there are no unnecessary violations of the former 30-student maximum per classroom, but it’s that additional support in classrooms that is lacking.
“Here, our libraries are seldom open every day of the week. Our teacher-librarians have had their time reduced by half, and then half of their time goes into giving preparation time to teachers.”
Muddying the waters is the fact both parties have agreed to step away from the bargaining table pending the outcome of the court decision, which will follow the 19 days Griffin is allowing each side to present its case, Helmer adds.
The BCTF is also seeking a declaration the provincial government has failed to address the repercussions of the 2011 decision, and is requesting damages for losses.
Helmer says he is unaware of what those damage claims might entail.
However, if the court directs the province to make some restitution, he anticipates that will become a bargaining point.
Meanwhile, Helmer says he hopes that whether through bargaining or a judicial order, the teacher-student ratios will soon be restored to pre-2002 levels.
“If the government truly believes in its ‘kids first and families first’ agenda, then they will act quickly to resolve those problems.”
More information on the BCTF’s position is available online at www.bctf.ca.
The Ministry of Education website is at www.gov.bc.ca/bced.
