British Columbia Teachers’ Federation Claims
vs FACTS supplied by Ministry of Education

700 fewer Special Needs teachers
FACT: 2,100 additional special needs teaching assistants in B.C. classrooms.

Ninth-best paid in Canada
FACT: B.C. teachers’ salary plus benefits is fourth-best among provinces.

Seniority eroded under Bill 22 – Education Improvement Act
FACT: Seniority remains key factor but qualifications also considered. Math teachers teaching Math; Science teachers teaching Science.

Contract demands are reasonable
FACT: A 15 per cent wage increase at a cost of $2 billion is completely unreasonable, given the current economic reality.

Wage increases are modest
FACT: Teachers’ union demands would cost $2 billion, which would raise taxes on all B.C. families.

Eliminated class sizes
FACT: Class-size caps on all grades with exceptions made by principals and superintendents.

Reject net-zero wage mandate
FACT: 130 net-zero contracts signed. 25,000 CUPE employees signed net zero contracts.

Teachers have not been fairly compensated
FACT: Teachers received a 16 per cent wage increase; $3,700 signing bonus for their last contract.

12,000 overcrowded classes
FACT: Of 65,000 classes, fewer than 1,500 have more than 31 students.
Fewer than 600 have more than 33 — most of these are band, choir and theatre.

Views expressed here published by the Government of BC