A newly ratified collective agreement between teachers and the province has resulted in mixed emotions locally.
Ratified by B.C. teachers between March 2-4, the new contract does not tackle all the significant concerns teachers have about workplace conditions and the learning environment over the coming years, said Maple Ridge Teachers’ Association (MRTA) president Martin Dmitrieff.
According to the province, the collective agreement is based on the 2025 Balanced Measures Mandate and includes some additional funding to support an increase in counsellors, learning assistance teachers, and special education resource teachers.
“As well as other measures that address teacher workloads,” read a bulletin put out by the provincial government.
Some of the highlights, according to the BCTF, include a general wage hike of three percent per year over four years; a wage bump a the lower end of the pay grid to attract new teachers to the profession and incentivize them to take contracts; more counsellors, learning assistance teachers, and special education resource teachers; more prep time for elementary teachers; and special allowances for psychologists and Indigenous language teachers, as well as increases for teachers in identified rural and remote schools.
Dmitrieff said he is encouraged by the pay incentives, especially for new teachers to take contract work, as SD42 is in an area where there is a teacher shortage.
“Over the last number of years we’ve had persistent and ongoing vacancies where there might be an intermediate Grade 6/7 classroom and has no teacher for months on end and there’s like just temporary teachers in place just holding the fort, so to speak,” he described.
These new incentives will ensure a teacher is in place for classrooms when there is a vacancy, Dmitrieff noted.
He was also grateful to see a commitment for more teacher counsellors, along with a training fund.
However, Dmitrieff noted, the new contract doesn’t fully address concerns around working conditions for teachers and learning conditions for students.
He was hoping to see more commitments from the government around providing spaces for students in the district, like providing portables until a time when a school is built.
“Unfortunately we are still a relatively fast growing community and our school spaces are not keeping pace with the demand,” he said.
Student learning conditions will not get better because teachers will still have a heavier workload, he said, especially in classrooms with complex student needs.
And, teacher workload in the classroom has a direct correlation and connection to students’ learning conditions.
“So that’s something that should be of concern to not only teachers but families too,” Dmitrieff said.
School board chair Elaine Yamamoto was pleased that the BC Public School Employers’ Association and the BC Teachers’ Federation reached a ratified agreement.
“We recognize that these are challenging fiscal times across the province and appreciate that there is now certainty and continuity for our teachers through to 2029,” she said, adding that school spaces, enrolment pressures, and facility capacity are addressed through the provincial capital planning process, which is a separate matter from the collective bargaining framework.
Yamamoto noted that the board will continue to work with the Ministry of Education and Child Care on our district’s long-term facilities needs.
Deneka Michaud, a spokesperson for the BC Public School Employers’ Association, (BCPSEA), said that while she can’t comment specifically the SD42 staffing, there are many elements within the new collective agreement that support recruitment and retention of teachers including: an increase in wages; better salary grid placement; an annual salary allowance of up to $8,000 for teacher psychologists; and an annual allowance of up to $8,000 for Indigenous languages teachers.
Michaud also cited: more preparation time for elementary school teachers; a commitment to discuss the provision of resources and support when changes are made to the duties and responsibilities of teachers; lower student teacher ratios for teacher counsellors, learning assistant teachers, and special education resource teachers; a new recruitment and training fund; and a post-bargaining committee to review class size, class composition, ratios, ancillary language, compliance, and remedy – which she said will help lessen teacher workloads and create better teaching and learning environments.
“Collective agreements are about the terms and conditions of employment and, thus, capital projects (e.g., classroom spaces) are not within the purview of collective bargaining,” she advised.
Voter turnout was 67 per cent, said the BCTF, and members voted 91 per cent in favour of the new four-year collective agreement with the BCPSEA.
The agreement covers 52,000 teachers and other educators like school psychologists who work across the province in the K–12 public education system.