Education and Early Childhood Development
April 24, 2015

Maintaining a Strong Education System for Students and Communities

Provincial Government Outlines Changes to Teacher Allocations

The Provincial Government is making changes to teacher allocations as part of current budget deficit measures. This coming school year, there will be a reduction of 77.5 teaching units. This will be managed by adjusting class caps in Grades 4-9 and through the decline in student enrollment. With these changes, Newfoundland and Labrador will still continue to have one of the best pupil-teacher ratios in the country.

“As a province, we are currently faced with fiscal challenges that we must address. While education remains a high priority for our government, we do have to make difficult decisions. The changes we are making to the teacher allocations will keep the impact to the system at a minimum. Through this process we will ensure that there are no changes to the class cap sizes for primary grades or to the allocation formula for students with exceptionalities. We are also maintaining our commitment to the implementation of full-day Kindergarten beginning in September of 2016.”
- The Honourable Derrick Dalley, acting Minister Responsible for Education

The adjustment to the teacher allocation will result in savings of approximately $7 million annually. The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development will allocate teaching units to the school districts based on the following class caps:

• Kindergarten – no change, class caps remain at 20;
• Grades 1-3 – no change, class caps remain at 25;
• Multi-grading for primary classes, no change, class caps remain the same;
• Grades 4-6 – class cap will increase by one to 26;
• Grades 7-9 – class cap will increase by two to 29;
• Elementary and intermediate multi-graded class caps will increase by three to 18 where two grades are combined.

“We take great pride in the advancements we have made in modernizing and improving our overall school system. Despite these changes to the teacher allocation, our province will continue to have one of the best pupil-teacher ratios in the country. We expect that through the natural attrition in our system there will continue to be opportunities for current teachers and for those looking to enter the workforce in the coming school year.”
- Minister Dalley

The Provincial Government remains committed to continuing to provide services to the most vulnerable student population. There will be no change in the allocation formula for guidance counsellors, educational psychologists, speech language pathologists, or teachers that provide services and supports for students with exceptionalities.

QUICK FACTS

• As part of budget reduction measures, the Provincial Government is reducing the teacher allocation for the coming school year by 77.5 teaching units.
• This will be managed through an adjustment in class caps for Grades 4-9 and through student enrollment decline.
• There will be no changes to class caps for primary grades.
• The Grade 4-6 class cap will increase by one, and the Grade 7-9 class cap will increase by two.
• From 2003 to 2014, the education budget for Newfoundland and Labrador has increased by 48 per cent despite a decline of approximately 14,000 students over that time.

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Media contact:

Blair Medd Director of Communications Department of Education and Early Childhood Development 729-0048, 631-8465 blairmedd@gov.nl.ca

2015 04 24                             10:20 a.m.