NDP promise to hire 600 education staff

Saskatchewan schools would get 600 new teachers and educational assistants if the NDP are elected in April, party leader Cam Broten says.

Speaking in Saskatoon, Broten said his party would hire 300 teachers and 300 assistants over four years and commit to a limit of 20 students per classroom.

Teachers would be sent to areas with the greatest need, with a “large focus” on urban centres with busier classrooms, and kindergarten to Grade 2.

“The plan is to add 75 more EAs and 75 more teachers each year building up to that 300 level and then working with the school boards to have the right schools, the right facilities,” Broten said.

The NDP have also pledged to spend $500,000 on school infrastructure including renovations and additions to current facilities.

Nine new joint-use elementary schools are slated to open in September. The schools are funded through a private public partnership (P3) funding model. Since the schools’ planning stages, the NDP have criticized the P3 models as more expensive than convention government-funded construction.

Broten said many of the current P3 school contracts will be signed, but in the future his party would look at other ways to cut costs.

The NDP also promised to boost funding to school boards and restore mid-year funding adjustment to fund growth in enrolment that happens after the start of the school year.