Wow, what a year! Where do I start? Lots of bad stuff, but a lot of good came out of it.
My first year on Provincial Executive Council (PEC) was very busy, and I loved every minute of it. I was assigned to the Political Engagement Committee, the Teacher Welfare Services Committee, the Resolutions Committee and, as luck would have it, MCATA. I have been a member of MCATA for as long as I can remember in my teaching career, and I am grateful to be associated with your executive.
The ATA has been busy dealing with the Alberta government. In the 2019/20 school year, we faced the following:
- Bill 8 (Education Amendment Act)
- Bill 9 (Public Sector Wage Arbitration Deferral Act)
- New Education Act
- Changes to standardized testing
- Budget uncertainty
- Increased instructional and busing fees
- Blue Ribbon Panel on Alberta’s Finances (MacKinnon Report)
- The cancellation of the memorandum of understanding on curriculum
- The establishment of a curriculum advisory panel by the government
- The erosion of classroom conditions
- Updated Teaching Quality Standard and Leadership Quality Standard
- No new government funding for enrolment growth
- Bill 21
- Bill 22, which transfers assets from the Alberta Teachers’ Retirement Fund (ATRF) to the government-owned Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo) at the end of 2020
- The government’s survey on choice in education
- The March for What Matters (in which 13,000 teachers, nurses, parents and other Albertans protested at the legislature)
- An unexplained cut of $136 million in education funding
- The COVID-19 pandemic
- The short-sighted layoff of 26,000 education workers
- Bill 5 (Fiscal Measures and Taxation Act), which shifts the power in central table negotiations to the Teachers’ Employer Bargaining Association (TEBA) board of directors, which has a majority of government appointees
- The new ministerial order on student learning, as well as the press conference with Angus McBeath (chair of the curriculum advisory panel)
- Bill 32 (Restoring Balance in Alberta’s Workplaces Act), which would require unions and associations to obtain opt-in approval before using member dues for political and advocacy functions
Just to list a few!
What can we do? Please take the time to meet with, write or call your MLA. Visit www.ibelieveinpubliced.ca/call_your_mla/ for tips.
We did have some wonderful things happen this past year.
The 2018 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) test results showed that if Alberta were a country, we would have placed eighth in the world for math. Congratulations to Alberta’s math teachers on an excellent result!
The end of this year saw a resolution by MCATA submitted to the ATA’s Annual Representative Assembly (ARA) and successfully passed. Resolution 3-10/20
(Immediate Directive) reads, “Be it resolved that the Association urge the Government of Alberta to allow students to use appropriate, secured educational technologies, in addition to scientific and graphing calculators, during math and science diploma exams and other standardized assessments.” The resolution had 97 per cent in favour pre-vote and easily passed in the block 2 voting. Congratulations, MCATA!
I am proud to have served MCATA and blessed to have met such a wonderful group of dedicated teachers. MCATA works hard to advance the interests of math teachers and, ultimately, students so that they are among the best in the world. I wish you the best of health and happiness in everything you do.
Murray Lalonde
