The New Westminster school district has been given the green light to hire up to 51 new teachers for the upcoming school year.
The announcement comes after the Ministry of Education approved the district’s request for funding for 51.1 full-time equivalent teaching positions at a cost of no more than $4,994,914.
“They fully funded all of our requests,” secretary-treasurer Kevin Lorenz said of news.
Trustees were pleased with the announcement, noting not all school districts in the province have had their requests approved by the ministry.
The funding New Westminster received, which will be disbursed in monthly instalments starting in September, includes an additional $469,600 to cover administrative and other costs associated with hiring more teachers.
Staff will have to report back to the ministry in October with actual figures on the number of teachers hired and salary information. This is required because the number of teachers may not be exactly 51, as laid out in the district’s hiring plan.
The new hires are a result of a Supreme Court of Canada ruling last fall that sided with the B.C. Teachers’ Federation over legislation passed by the province in 2002 that stripped clauses from the teachers’ contract about class size, the number of specialist teachers required in schools and the number of special needs students in classrooms.
Because of this ruling, districts were required to renegotiate teachers’ contracts so they were aligned with language from 2002.
Fifteen new teachers were hired this semester as an interim measure. (This was also fully funded.)
The district has also received funding for two new portables – one at Lord Tweedsmuir Elementary School and a second at Qayqayt Elementary School.
