The details of the tentative agreement between the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation and the provincial government were released on Thursday. The three-year agreement is backdated to be effective from September 1st of last year and goes until August 31st, 2026.  

“We’ve long acknowledged that the challenges in public education took a decade to create, and won’t be all be solved in one agreement,” said STF President Samantha Becotte in a written release. “The STF Executive believes this tentative agreement makes important steps forward on the most pressing issues facing Saskatchewan teachers, students and families – including class complexity.” 

For class complexity, the agreement will see an accountability framework, signed by the STF, the province and the Saskatchewan School Boards Association attached to the CBA as a memorandum of understanding. The framework is said to provide transparency, as well as input from teachers on the allocation of funding at the divisional level meant for classroom support.  

The agreement will also see a bump up in funding for the multi-year funding agreement reached by the SSBA and the government just ahead of the provincial budget in March. The agreement will have an additional $18 million per year specifically for classroom complexity included.  

The third part of the agreement to address classroom complexity is the creation of what was called the Minister’s Task Force on Classroom Complexity. The language creating the task force will be attached to the agreement as a letter of understanding. Details released by the STF say the task force will be made up of teachers, parents and students, with a final report, including proposed solutions, to be presented to the Minister of Education.  

Another letter of understanding attached to the CBA will establish a policy table on violence-free classrooms. The table will determine the scope of the issue, as well as definitions, how data will be collected, and a reporting schedule. The table will be chaired by the Ministry of Education, with representatives from the STF and the SSBA also present.  

Salary was also included in the tentative agreement, with a pay raise of three percent in 2023-24 and 2024-25, and a two percent increase in 2025-26. 

Other sections in the agreement also address the supplemental employment benefits plan, the grievance procedures, principals and vice-principals, as well as a preamble to recognize truth and reconciliation.  

While the executive of the STF is recommending the agreement be approved, there is still a push from the membership for more to be included in a new contract. On social media, there has been criticism of the agreement from teachers that the issue of class size and complexity is just being kicked down the road for a later time to be dealt with, as there are no solid sections addressing it.  

There were also comparisons from contracts recently signed in provinces such as British Columbia and Nova Scotia that have working conditions including class size and teacher workload, and questions as to why these weren’t included in an agreement reached in Saskatchewan.  

Teachers will vote on the agreement on May 29th and 30th, with the results expected to be announced on the evening of May 30th.