Teacher Allocations

Education Minister John Ottenheimer says teacher allocations announced in Budget 2004 are a reflection of enrolment decline throughout Newfoundland and Labrador.

"Enrolment throughout the province has been declining annually for the past three decades. In the current school year, there are 81,458 students, 50 per cent fewer than in 1971-72 when enrolment peaked at 162,818 students. The number of teachers has also dropped over the same period, but at a considerably lower rate," said Minister Ottenheimer. "Since the initiation of education reform in 1996, the number of schools has decreased from 432 to 305, a 29 per cent drop. Student enrolment has declined by 23 per cent, while the number of classroom teachers has decreased by 17 per cent."

Prior to 2000, teaching units were allocated to school board districts on the basis of the total district enrolment. The Sparkes-Williams report, Supporting Learning: Report of the Ministerial Panel on Educational Delivery in the Classroom, set a new process for teacher allocation that takes into account many factors including the challenges of providing education in small rural schools, the need for smaller classes in multi-graded classrooms and in primary and elementary grades and a host of other considerations. (see Backgrounder). Recognizing the unique challenges of delivering education in a rural community, the model provides a five per cent increase in the basic allocation for rural schools.

In addition to the basic allocation, the Sparkes-Williams model provides teaching units for school administration, guidance, special education, learning resources and program areas such as music, art and French. Incremental to the special education allocation, additional teachers are provided to children with documented special needs such as cognitive or physical challenges. Teaching positions for distance education are also provided in a separate block allocated to the Centre for Distance Learning and Innovation. These teachers are in addition to the allocation of teachers to school districts.

There are 147 teaching units scheduled to be removed from the system resulting from enrolment decline. There are also an additional 218 teaching units in the school system beyond those allocated by the Sparkes-Williams model. These 218 units will be phased out over two years, resulting in 109 additional teachers in the system for the 2004-05 school year. The overall reduction in teaching units for the next school year will be 256. Minister Ottenheimer noted, "Despite the fact that enrolment loss has necessitated a teacher reduction, students in Newfoundland and Labrador will continue to have access to more teacher resources than students in any other province in Canada."

Although the total allocation is based on school characteristics, districts have the flexibility to address their own priorities and decide how these teachers will be deployed in the classroom. With an approximate 300 to 400 teachers expected to retire this year, the reduction in teaching units is expected to be largely addressed at district level through attrition. There is still expected to be a need for permanent full-time teachers entering the profession in September.

Media contact: Lynn Salter, Communications (709) 729-0048

The current teacher allocation formula was recommended in the Ministerial Panel Report on Educational Delivery in the Classroom released in March 2000.

It reads as follows:

Recommendation 56
That the following guidelines be used for determining the framework for the allocation of teachers to school districts:

           Grade Level                                        Ratio of Students to Teachers
            K                                                                        16:1
           1-6                                                                       20:1
           7-12                                                                     21:1

           Grade Combinations                            Ratio of Students to Teachers
           K with any one other                                              15:1
           K with any two others                                            12:1
           K with any 3 others (e.g. K-3)                                 10:1
           Any two primary                                                    17:1
           Three or more primary                                            14:1
           Any two primary/elementary (e.g. 3-4)                     18:1
           Three or more primary/elementary                           15:1
           Any two elementary/intermediate                            18:1
           Three or more elementary/intermediate                    15:1

Teachers will be allocated for high school based on the framework for small, mid-sized and large schools with a minimum number of teachers assigned as follows:

• In small schools, 1.5 teacher units will be allocated to each school with 21 or fewer high school students.
• Schools with 22 to 31 and 32 to 42 high school students (inclusive) will be allocated 1.75 and 2 teacher units, respectively.
• High schools with enrolments greater than 42 will be allocated teachers based on a divisor of 21 for small schools, 24 for medium schools and 27 for large schools.
• For schools with total enrolment less than 10 – 1 teacher; for schools with total enrolment greater than or equal to 10 but less than 15 – 2 teachers. When high school enrolment drops below five, options for student bursaries to study in a larger school should be considered.

           Grade Level                                         Ratio of Students to Teachers
           K                                                                          20:1
           1-6                                                                        22:1
           7-12                                                                      24:1

           Grade Level                                         Ratio of Students to Teachers
           K                                                                          20:1
           1-3                                                                        24:1
           4-6                                                                        26:1
           7-12                                                                      27:1

           School Enrolment                                              Allocation
           1-74                                                                 0.25 unit(s)
           75-149                                                                 0.50
           150-249                                                               0.75
           250-399                                                               1.0
           400-549                                                              1.25
           550-699                                                               1.5
           700-849                                                              1.75
           850                                                                    +2.0

F.        Rural Adjustment:
           For rural schools (schools in communities with less than 5,000 according to Statistics Canada), the teacher multiplier for grade/level-specific ratios shall be set at 1.05.

G.        Additional Allocations:

           Non-categorical Special Education                                  7 per 1,000 students

           Categorical Special Education                                        Documented cases

           Learning Resource Teachers                                          1 per 1,000 students

           Guidance Counsellors                                                   1 per 500 students

           Teachers to support program areas (e.g., music, art, French)

                                                                                               1 per 250 students (allocated on the 
                                                                                               basis of enrolment in Grades 7-12)

           Francophone schools                                                     At level for small schools

           Aboriginal schools                                                         Present allocation (with enhanced 
                                                                                               guidance and administrator 
                                                                                               allocation from new model)

The number of students above the grade level criterion is pooled in a "bank" with fractional teaching units assigned proportional to the overall ratio for that grade level, with the multiplier set at one for both urban and rural schools.

Recognizing also that it is not reasonable for all schools to employ teachers for small fractions of time, these basic allocations can be combined with special education, administration or other supplementary units to create full-time or large fractional positions.

2004 03 30                                         3:20 p.m.