As teachers around the province celebrate last week’s Supreme Court of Canada ruling in favour of the B.C. Teachers’ Federation, a New Westminster-based organization is raising concerns that restrictions on classroom composition could have a negative impact on vulnerable students.
Inclusion B.C., a non-profit group that promotes the participation of people with developmental disabilities in all aspects of community life, is calling on both the BCTF and the provincial government to ensure this decision doesn’t harm special needs students, said Faith Bodnar, executive director of the New Westminster-based group.
In a 7-2 ruling last Thursday, the Supreme Court put an end to a 14-year legal battle between the B.C. Liberal government and the BCTF over legislation passed by the then-newly elected Liberals. The legislation stripped clauses from the teachers’ contract about class size, the number of specialist teachers required in schools and the number of special needs students who can be in a class. The ruling restores these clauses, and now the BCTF and the province will have to return to the bargaining table to reopen the collective agreement signed following the six-week strike in 2014.
Bodnar applauds the decision but not without trepidation.
“It goes a long way to sorting out what has been a really destructive process for kids with special needs over the last years, and I think for public education as well – it’s had a big impact,” she said, adding the key now is to make sure limits on special needs students in classrooms don’t deter parents from sending their kids to public schools.
Last month, the provincial government announced $1 million in funding for special education schools (SES). These schools are part of the private school system, and parents have to pay tuition fees if they want their kids to attend. (In some cases, parents can receive government funding or scholarships.)
“One of the things we are concerned about is this move by the provincial government to support segregated schools, and what we don’t want to see is any new investments that come as a result of this decision, go towards that,” she said, adding segregating children with special needs during their school years can often lead to segregation in their adult years.
Teachers in New Westminster, meanwhile, are delighted at the result of the ruling, according to New Westminster Teachers’ Union president Grant Osborne.
“Of course now the devil’s in the details,” he told the Record. “We’re back to the original language but what does it mean in terms of negotiations, how much money is the government willing to put in to restore the lost positions?”
Osborne, who’s worked in the district since 1992, is cautiously optimistic the government will get moving on the changes right away.
“Unfortunately, the history we have with this government is to delay, either through legislation or court action or any number of delaying tactics, so it’s really in the infancy of seeing where this is going to go,” he said, adding with an election coming this spring, the government may be more anxious to get things going.
Pat Duncan, superintendent of the New Westminster school district, said it’s too early to say what impact the ruling will have on the district. Instead, he expects the first step will be a return to the bargaining table for the BCTF and provincial government.
Premier Christy Clark, who was the provincial education minister back in 2002 when the government passed the legislation cutting language on class size and composition, and specialist teachers, has told reporters the government set aside $100 million in anticipation of the court decision.
