The provincial government lost an arbitration ruling on class size violations across the province.
Arbitrator James Dorsey ordered the government to compensate B.C. teachers who were subjected to more children in their classrooms than legislation allowed.
"We were not named. It has no implication for us," said School District 57 superintendent of schools Brian Pepper.
The provincial government issued no statement on the ruling.
The teachers' union, though, said that it will have positive benefits for all districts whether named specifically or not.
"Arbitrator Dorsey has ruled that the government and school districts cannot ignore the class-size limits set in law or the required support levels for children with special needs," said Susan Lambert, first vice-president of the B.C. Teachers' Federation. "In his decision, arbitrator Dorsey said teachers should not have to bear the burden of overcrowded classes...The government, by stripping these matters out of collective bargaining in 2002, has created a dysfunctional system that is wasting valuable time and resources that would be better spent in the classroom. The B.C. government legislated class-size limits and standards of support for children with special needs, but never provided the funding to get the job done. As a result, there are more overcrowded classes today than ever before."
In all, teachers grieved 546 classes from the 2006-07 school year, and 1,122 classes from the 2007-08 school year that violated the limits set by government legislation. By agreement between the two sides, the arbitration only looked at a small number of representative cases.
The remedy applies to 21 cases and will be used now as a guide to settle the outstanding grievances.
WHAT THE JAMES DORSEY RULING SAID...
"When a board of education exceeds grade level size and composition standards for a class and does not meet the requirements with respect to the class, the burden of the breach is primarily borne by the teacher(s) of the class, not the principal, superintendent, trustees, or even individual students." Paragraph 141.
"If boards of education are not funded to enable them to fulfill their legislated responsibility and duty, then the funding provincial government must be accountable or the Legislative Assembly must expressly enact relief from the class-size and composition standards and explain to parents and teachers why the standards are no longer desirable or achievable." Paragraph 73.
"Review and analysis of the particulars of all classes in dispute in both school years has drawn me to a four-tier formula with a limit on the total number of paid release days as a reasonable balance among the interests of equitable compensation, an efficacious formula, and potential for settlements that minimize disruption for students." Paragraph 170.
