Editor:
To pass a bill that breaks constitution and international law seems unbelievable. That is what the Liberal government is about to do.
This bill will not only deny the B.C. Teachers' Federation the right to take job action, but it will strip all language about class sizes from the teachers' contract. Once the bill has become law, administrators and superintendents will no longer be required to report to the public any statistics about class sizes.
Not to worry though, even if your child is an over-crowded classroom, the teacher will receive a special payment for every student if there are over 30 students in their classroom. The payment would be $2,500 per elementary student or $312 per secondary student. The Liberal government argues that principals will not want to pay extra money to teachers so they will keep classes under 30.
Let's do the math. In secondary school, a class costs about $15,000. $15,000 divide by $312 is 48. So a class of 77 is cheaper to run than two classes of 38 or three classes of 27. Maybe the Liberals should go back to math class.
Instead of a raise, I guess teachers should just request more desks.
Cheryl McCrone
Sechelt
