Decision to cut 28 teaching positions reversed by province

The P.E.I. government has reversed its decisionto cut 28 teaching positionsfrom theEnglish Language School Board this fall, saidEducation, Early Learning and Culture Minister Hal Perry.

The decision comes after a promised review of staffing plans with the board, the P.E.I. Teachers' Federation and school principals over the past two weeks.

Perry said the sudden revision in enrolment numbers last week was a big part of the reversal.

The school board now predictsschools willhave 120 more students rather than300 fewer as was earlier forecast by the government.

"In consultation with the school board, with the home and school federation and the teacher's federation, we've reviewed the need and we want to have staffing in the fall for the principals as soon as possible, so we've reviewed and 28 is the number that was recommended and 28 is the number of additional teachers that we will be putting back into the front line," said Perry.

Teachers happy with support

P.E.I. Teachers' Federation president Bethany MacLeod says she's pleased to see the teaching positions returned.

"The PEITF's meetings with government at the end of June were instrumental in these positions being returned to Island schools. We were confident after those meetings that the 28 positions would be returned," said MacLeod in a news release.

"Government wanted to ensure that any positions being returned would go into Island classrooms and we agreed with government's desire to concentrate on frontline services."

MacLeod said teachers appreciated the support of the public.

"Islanders showed that education is a priority and that supporting teachers supports Island students," MacLeod said.

But Premier Wade MacLauchlan says the decision to keep 28 teaching positions will mean stretching the province's budget.

While he doesn't have the exact figure, he speculated the expense will be about $1.25 million.

Budget resources will be found

"Well, it will be a further stretch in terms of the expenditure in 2015/16. You know, a budget is a management plan for a 12-month cycle and so we're going to have to find resources in other parts of our operation to ensure that those 28 teaching positions are a priority," said MacLauchlan.

"It's in the nature of a budget that you set priorities, and you stick to them, and inevitably make choices. So this is another feature of a budgeting process that totals $1.7 billion, so it comes with the territory."

But MacLauchlan said the two-week review gave government a full sense of the context and the enrolments.

"So it was reasonable to have those 28 teachers in the classroom where they can make a difference."

The decision to eliminate the positions was announced in the provincial budget,June 19. In addition to the teaching positions,13 positions were cutat the board and Department of Education levels.

School board superintendents had been waiting for the provincial budget to plan staffing for the upcoming school year. The release of the budgetwas delayed by a spring election and theopening of the legislature in June.

When news of the cuts wasreleased,Perry defended the decision bysaying school enrolment was down by 300 students. He added the student-teacher ratio was still good.