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Smaller classes, more help in SD43, stats show

Teachers concerned they may lose gains made since Supreme Court ruling restored collective agreement
Teacher
School District 43 has been keeping class sizes below collective agreement minimums, with classroom averages decreasing since 2017/’18.

Bargaining for B.C. public school teachers may be taking place behind closed doors but a quick glance at local class size and composition numbers show what’s at stake.

In recent weeks, the BC Teachers’ Federation has been raising concerns about possible concessions on class size and composition, an issue echoed this week by Coquitlam Teachers' Association (CTA) president Ken Christensen.

But if numbers tell the tale, School District 43 has been keeping class sizes well below the collective agreement minimums, with classroom averages decreasing since 2017/’18.

These smaller classes are likely to have the support of educational assistants as the number of classes with this extra support has grown dramatically, with 850 classes having an EA in the last school year compared to 635 in 2015/’16.

SD43 is organizing classes differently, too, with more classes having fewer numbers of students with individual education plans (IEPs) to help them achieve education goals than in previous years.

In 2018/’19, there were more classes with three or fewer students with IEPs (1,958, or 60%, last year compared to 1,424, or 50%, in 2015/’16) while classes with four to six students or seven or more students with IEPs have declined — now 673, or 20.6%, compared to 861, or 28.9%, in 2015/’16.

CTA’s Ken Christensen said the improvement can be credited to the 2017 Supreme Court of Canada decision restoring class size and composition language that had been removed by the BC Liberal government in 2002.

 

Class Size and Composition by the numbers
 

15/16

16/17

17/18

18/19

Classes 2968 2893 3309 3251
# with EA 635 713 858 850
Avg K 20.3 20.2 18.3 18.4
Avg 1-3 22.4 22.2 20.7 20.3
Avg 4-7 28.6 28.3 24.8 24.7

 

Some of the improvements could also be credited to a concerted effort to build more classes, through the opening of Smiling Creek elementary school and the the addition of portables and school space renovations, which were paid for out of SD43 coffers, according to SD43 secretary treasurer Chris Nicolls. “The improvements here are directly due to the restoration of our contract language in 2017 and its current continuance until new terms are negotiated,” Christensen said in an email to The Tri-City News.

Nicolls also said administrators have made an effort to organize classes “focusing on those classes that have large numbers of IEP students first and where possible,” and, with the hiring of 120 staff members last year and an additional 60 this school year, will continue to address class size and composition efforts.

“Class size and composition is a key focus and deliberate outcome of our class management efforts," he said.

 

Class Size and Composition by the numbers

 

 

 

15/16

16/17

17/18

18/19

Avg class size 8-12

26.2

26.0

24.4

24.2

# w 1-3 students with IEP (all grades)

1424

1394

1944

1958

# w 4-6 students with IEP (all grades)

631

604

611

553

# w 7+ students with IEP (all grades)

230

184

104

120

 

A press release issued in advance of school re-opening next Tuesday noted the government has invested more than $400 million annually for school districts to fill almost 4,000 new teaching positions, including 500 special education teachers and 190 more teacher psychologists and counsellors.The provincial government is also taking credit for the improvement. 

Province-wide, according to the release, an additional 1,000 education assistants have been hired in the past two years and the number of classes with an education assistant has increased by 37%.

The teachers’ collective agreement currently limits primary classes to 20 for kindergarten and 22 students for Grades 1 to 3 while class composition and class size limits vary from district to district, depending on local collective agreements.

SD43 class average class sizes are 18.4 for kindergarten (B.C.'s is 18), 20.3 for Grades 1 to 3 (B.C.: 19.9), 24.7 for Grades 4 to 7 (B.C.: 23.9) and 24.2 for Grades 8 to -12 (B.C.: 22.1).