B.C. students will soon benefit from an agreement reached with the BCTF to provide school districts with $50 million to immediately begin hiring teachers and improve student supports.

The funding is for the 2016-17 school year and is equivalent to compensation for approximately 1,100 teachers. The actual number of teachers hired will be determined by districts, local unions, and the hiring process.

The priority measures, outlined in a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) signed this week by the Province, the BC Public School Employers’ Association and the BCTF, are the first step in responding to the decision from the Supreme Court of Canada as negotiations continue on the restored collective agreement provisions.

The funding will go towards:

• Hiring additional classroom teachers this school year where it is feasible to do so given current timetable, physical space and labour supply limitations.
• Hiring additional specialty teachers this school year where it is feasible to do so. This includes, but is not limited to, teachers employed as special education teachers, speech language pathologists, behaviour intervention specialists, school psychologists, Aboriginal support teachers, counsellors including for mental health, ELL teachers, and teacher librarians.
• Where it is not feasible to add additional teachers during the current school year, the funding may be used to fund district-level capacity building opportunities such as upgrading existing teacher qualifications during the 2016-17 year, teacher recruitment programs and teacher mentoring programs.