Quebec announces $80M education plan as negotiations drag on
As talks continue between the province and striking teachers, Education Minister François Blais offered details of a plan to put $80 million into the school system.
Blais said Sunday the money will go toward providing more frontline services to students and hiring more teachers.
He said the money will help students at key moments in their education throughout elementary and high school.
The Quebec government had already said last week it would re-invest $100 million in education over the coming months: $20 million this fiscal year and an additional $80 million annually, beginning in 2016-2017.
Those amounts represent an increase in education spending of just 0.12 per cent for the rest of this fiscal year and 0.5 per cent next year.
Funding tackles services, not salaries
The measures include more services to help young children with reading and writing while also providing additional resources to steer older students away from dropping out.
Blais also announced that 600 more teachers will be hired across Quebec. The announcement comes as teachers gear up for a walkout on Dec. 9 as a part of province-wide rotating strikes.
The plan includes integrating students with learning difficulties and disabilities into regular classrooms.
The government said it will also create individualized education programs to help high school students in math, science and French.
The announcement comes after the government revealed earlier this week that they might cut $120 million from the budget of Quebec daycares.
Quebec teachers question funding
Unions representing Quebec teachers are casting doubt on how meaningful the investment is.
They say that the $80 million was already in the budget for 2016.
Quebec teachers are still waiting to reach an agreement with the government as they have been without a contract since April.
Public sector negotiations are going into overdrive this weekend in hopes of settling on a new collective agreement.
