(File Photo/CKOM News)

By Julia Lovett-Squires

PEP funding

Province releases new education plan; local and regional boards react

Nov 9, 2023 | 8:00 AM

The Saskatchewan Government has outlined an education plan that it said will take students from prekindergarten to Grade 12 into the future.

The Provincial Education Program 2030 identifies four areas of focus – Learning and Assessment, Indigenous Education, Mental Health and Wellbeing and Student Transitions – that the Ministry of Education said the plan lines up with Saskatchewan’s Growth Plan.

“The Plan was developed collaboratively with direct involvement of the education sector, Indigenous organizations, post-secondary education institutions, and school community councils representing parents,” the ministry said in a statement, noting all provincial boards endorsed the plan.

According to a press release issued on the government’s website, the plan includes nearly $2.1 billion that will go towards school divisions for the upcoming school year and it’s something they’ve had input from different stakeholders in the development of the plan and are aligned with it.

Duane Hauk, director of education with Northwest School Division said the development process had been ongoing for a couple of years and the board had input. He explained the board has been active in working through the plan’s four pillars and already had programs that work.

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“Within our school division we work with elders and knowledge keepers,” he said of the second pillar dubbed “Indigenous Education.”

“The first (pillar) would be Student Learning and Assessment and that’s where we do a lot of work with reading and math, responsive instruction if we need individual reading support plans for students. We also have in our school division do mentorship for new teachers.”

Keeping up

However, the Saskatchewan Teachers Federation doesn’t believe it goes far enough.

“It’s one thing to have a plan, we do have some concerns about some of the contents of the plan, but we also have concerns about the ability of teachers and school divisions to actualize this plan without additional resources,” said STF President Samantha Becotte.

“I agree, $2.1 billion is a significant amount of money, but we have nearly 200,000 students across our province, with growing needs and the budget for education is not keeping up with that enrollment growth we are seeing in this province and it’s not keeping up with inflation.”

According to Tonya Lehman, deputy director of education for Living Sky School Division, the plan has “very much been through the lens of both our school division and our board of education and we’re now looking at the beginning of the implementation year.”

Hauk said much of the plan has already been a part of the schools within his division but there will be growth and change.

“I think we’re always looking at ways to get better at what we’re doing and making sure that we’re trying our best to have professional development and to have our staff trained with the different programs and to make sure we’re meeting the needs of the students.”

As part of the funding, $304 million has been allocated for supports but Becotte said students’ needs are going to intensify if the government continues “to play catch up.”

“Our government has the ability to increase our investment in education, they’re just making the political choices not to,” she said, noting the government estimated there was a $500 million surplus in the first quarter.

According to the plan, the goals the government aims to achieve include improving attendance, which was at 85.6 per cent during the 2022-23 year and decreasing the gap between indigenous and non-indigenous graduation rates.

The plan also looks at improving math and reading scores over the next seven years as this past school year saw 70 per cent of students achieve grade-level understanding. Finally, according to the plan, last year 59 per cent of Grade 4-6 students said they felt safe at school and 55 per cent of those in Grades 7-12 felt safe and wanted to improve the “sense of connection and safety” within the system.

“The plan is really based on I think the needs that we do see in our communities,” said Lehman of the four pillars.

“Those are four actionaries that we’ve had as part of our own strategic plan that we’ve had for many years. [We] may have used different terminology to address those and really at the PEP…it’s meant to sit at a high level so that within that each of us as school divisions can take and put that to our unique needs,” she said.

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julia.lovettsquires@pattisonmedia.com

On X/Twitter: jls194864