EDMONTON - The Edmonton Public School Board (EPSB) will be encouraging the Alberta School Board Association (ASBA) not to recommend the tentative agreement reached by the Alberta Teachers Association and the province last week.
“We don’t believe that the proposal that we’ve been asked to endorse should be recommended by the Alberta School Boards Association,” said EPSB chair Sarah Hoffman.
The EPSB feels the proposed framework is not good for students and erodes democratic decision making. Hoffman said the board also had budget concerns.
“The board felt that we weren’t in a position financially to commit to this proposal,” added Hoffman.
The board’s vote Tuesday afternoon was unanimous.
Edmonton Catholic School Trustees also met Tuesday to discuss the tentative agreement with the ATA.
At 3:30 Tuesday afternoon, the board revealed it had voted to endorse the deal.
“As a Board we support this tentative agreement and believe that labour peace is in the best interests of our students, staff and parents in the Edmonton Catholic School District,” said Board chair Becky Kallal.
“If the agreement is ratified, our District can remain focused on a number of priorities including 21st century learning, high school completion and early learning to name just a few. We are also pleased that possible pressure points in teacher workloads will be examined as part of the agreement.”
“We know that there have been concerns expressed about the funding,” she added. “But our Board believes that the provincial budget and the tentative agreement with the province and the ATA are different issues that should be addressed separately.”
On Friday, March 15, the Alberta government announced it had reached a tentative four-year deal with teachers. The proposed deal, between the province and the ATA, would see the salary grid for nearly 40,000 Alberta teachers frozen for three years, followed by an increase of two per cent in 2015 and a one-time lump sum payment to be funded by the government in that same year.
The ATA recommended the agreement to its teachers, who will be asked to vote on it.
However, local school boards were not at the final labour talks, and many of the boards' representatives are upset that they were not part of the discussions leading up to the agreement they are now being asked to sign.
On Monday, Alberta school boards held an emergency meeting, with 60 of its 62 boards represented.
"They need to go home and have that discussion at their table and decide, in fact, whether the stability of four years, whether the zero increase in salaries is worth some of the content that's in this agreement," said Jacqui Hansen, President of the Alberta School Boards Association (ASBA).
The ASBA hasn't decided if it will recommend the deal.
The Education Minister said Monday the local school boards have final say.
“The contracts are actually held between the provincial ATA and the local school boards,” said Jeff Johnson.
“The local school boards are who makes the decision on this, but the ASBA organization, their umbrella organization, has been at the table with us over the last two and a half years.”
According to the Education Ministry, individual local representatives for the ATA need to ratify the deal, then school boards and local ATA representatives will need to complete negotiations on all other elements not covered by the overall framework. Once that is complete, school boards will need to ratify the agreement.
The province says it’s looking forward to hearing from all school boards over the coming days.
“Boards are the employer for their staff, and the agreements to date have always been between the Alberta Teachers Association and the individual local boards,” explained Hoffman.
Tuesday afternoon, the EPSB debated the issue.
Following the meeting, the EPSB revealed the recommendation it will be passing along to the ASBA.
"I believe as a district and as a province we can do better for our students and for our teachers," said school trustee Michael Janz.
He voiced concerns about class size, retiring teachers and staff, the school board's budget, and impacts on special needs services.
"I think there's a plethora of concerns," Janz added. "I hope that we can come to some sort of an agreement… that won't make our considerable budget woes worse."
The province had been in discussions with teachers for more than two years.
© Global News. A division of Shaw Media Inc., 2013.