June 23, 1999
(Education)

Minister announces additional teacher allocations

Education Minister Judy Foote today announced that 41 additional teachers will be allocated to school boards across the province for the 1999 - 2000 school year.

"The Department of Education has conducted a thorough review of the possible effects of reductions in the number of teachers allocated to school boards," said Minister Judy Foote at a news conference at Confederation Building.

"This was a rather complex and time-consuming process. We found that the majority of schools are adequately resourced, however, we did find variations in the way school boards assign teachers to individual schools throughout the province. We also found differences in the extent to which boards provided direction to schools with respect to issues such as course offerings and teacher scheduling. As a result of this review, and in particular the findings related to the way districts deploy teachers to individual schools, the Department of Education has decided to adjust the number of teachers for the 1999/2000 school year. An additional 41 teachers will be assigned to school boards across the province."

"The re-investment of an additional 41 teachers brings the total re-investment to 277 teachers. This coming school year we will have more teachers relative to the number of students than there has been at any period in our history," said Minister Foote.

This province has witnessed a dramatic decline in student enrolment in the past number of years from a high of approximately 163,000 students in 1971-72 to about 97,000 students today - a drop of over 40 per cent. In September, we are projecting there will be a further decline of some 4,000 students. In the next decade and beyond the enrolment decline is projected to continue. Enrolment is projected to fall below 60,000 by 2010 and to about 50,000 by the year 2015.

"Declining student enrolment, the geographic distribution of the population and the many remote communities in our province all create significant challenges to our education system. Our current analysis has reinforced my resolve to review the method of allocating teachers for the 2000/2001 school year," said Minister Foote. "Government will establish a mechanism to review how teachers are allocated by the Department of Education and how they are deployed by the boards. We also will be looking at the course offerings in the K-12 system to ensure a balanced program for our students, no matter where they live in the province. I will have a further announcement on the details of this review in the coming weeks."

The reinvestment of 277 teachers translates into a total dollar value of approximately $14 million.

This brings the total investment in the K-12 system to more than half a billion dollars. More than 70 per cent of this half billion goes towards teachers salaries, with the remainder to school board operations.

Government spends over 20 per cent of its provincial budget on the provision of educational programs and services, second only to health. The province's educational effort, our educational spending in relation to our ability to pay continues to be the highest in the country, far above all other provinces. In addition, between 1990/91 and 1996/97 total per-student expenditures for this province increased 19 per cent, a greater increase than in all other provinces except Saskatchewan.

"The fact that we have continued to improve the pupil-teacher ratio and have increased spending on education clearly demonstrates government's commitment to ensuring our students are well prepared to move on to any post-secondary institution in this country and to take their places as leaders in this province or wherever they choose to live and work."

"Our re-investment today and our commitment to review teacher allocations and the courses offered in our K-12 system demonstrate government's continuing commitment to ensuring a quality education system in our province," concluded Minister Foote.

Media Contact: Nancy Healey, Director of Communications, (709) 729-0048.

1999 06 23          4:25 p.m.