Welcome to the CUPE BC K-12 Presidents’ Council site
The K-12 Presidents’ Council represents 57 CUPE locals in school districts across British Columbia.
CUPE represents more than 30,000 education workers including: education assistants, school secretaries, custodians/caretakers, Indigenous support workers, IT workers, Strong Start facilitators, trades and maintenance workers, and bus drivers.
We strive to protect quality public education for all.
B.C.’s Ombudsperson, Jay Chalke, is investigating concerns of students in public schools being asked or told to not attend schools. The investigation will assess whether these practises are fair for students, particularly those with diverse learning abilities.
The Ombudsperson wants to hear directly from K-12 educators that offer direct support to students – for example, educations assistants, Indigenous support workers, child and family support workers, early childhood educators and Strong Start facilitators, etc.
As frontline workers who students depend on for support every day, your input will be very important to the Ombudsperson’s investigation.
They want to hear from you about:
The Ombudsperson is asking K-12 school support workers to complete an online questionnaire.
CLICK here for the education professionals questionnaire
The Questionnaire is voluntary and confidential. It should take about 10 minutes of your time, and you can skip questions or stop at any time. You can also participate by calling the Ombudsperson directly at 1-800-567- FAIR (3247) or visit bcombudsperson.ca.
Your responses are confidential. The Ombudsperson will not share your name, your identity, or the identity or any students you mention with the Ministry of Education, any school district, or anyone else.
Under section 16 of the Ombudsperson Act, you are protected from retaliation for participating. If you believe you’ve faced negative consequences because you took part in this questionnaire or shared information with the Ombudsperson, you are asked to contact their office at 1-800-567- FAIR (3247).
This is an important opportunity to share your experiences, insights and expertise. As frontline workers your input is crucial. Among other things, the questionnaire asks school support workers:
We know you have invaluable insight into these questions. We are encouraging you to participate today.
The Ombudsperson also wants to hear directly from students and families.
We want to welcome everyone back for another school year. We hope you all had a good summer and had a chance to refresh. We can expect the coming year to be a busy one—not just in our schools, but at the bargaining table.
Collective bargaining
As you’ll remember from the last update in June from your provincial bargaining committee, the B.C. Public School Employers’ Association (“BCPSEA”) presented an opening wage offer to CUPE members in the K-12 sector.
This was the employer’s first offer and we do not accept it. The offer falls far short of recent wage settlements reached by CUPE locals across our province and does not meet the needs of our members. Our members need a fair wage increase that keeps up with the rising costs of groceries and other essentials in B.C.
Your Provincial K-12 Bargaining Committee will continue negotiating at the bargaining table towards an agreement that addresses the bargaining priorities of our members. We have another bargaining session scheduled September 22nd & 23rd with BCPSEA. We will provide an update after this session.
Several provincial employers in other sectors have presented opening monetary offers at their bargaining tables over the past few months. Overall, our fellow public sector unions have also rejected these opening offers. And as you’ll have seen in the news, workers represented by the BC Government Employees Union (the “BCGEU”) are currently on strike with the province at several worksites.
We stand firmly in support and solidarity with BCGEU and its members on strike. We are watching this situation closely and encourage members to show their support for their fight for a fair collective agreement.
Standing together
We know that the return to classrooms is an extremely busy time for all of us as K-12 workers, and that the work we do can be both rewarding and, at times, very challenging. As school support workers, hundreds of thousands of students and families depend on the services we provide in our public schools. And as CUPE members, we know we can depend on each other. Your continued support and engagement are critical to the success of students in our schools, and in our collective success at the bargaining table.
Your K-12 provincial bargaining committee met yesterday with the B.C. Public School Employers’ Association (BCPSEA). At this bargaining session, BCPSEA tabled their first monetary offer. We are sharing BCPSEA’s offer with you to make sure you have accurate information.
BCPSEA proposed a 2-year term, with annual general wage increases divided between different dates in each year.
Year 1 – BCPSEA proposed two options for the year 1 general wage increases
Option A
0.75% as of July 1, 2025
0.75% as of January 1, 2026
or Option B
0.5% + $0.15/hour as of July 1, 2025
0.5% + $0.15/hour as of January 1, 2026
Year 2
1% as of July 1, 2026
1% as of January 1, 2027
This offer falls far short of recent wage settlements reached by CUPE locals across our province. It also falls far short of what school support workers in our province need and deserve. It does not satisfactorily advance our bargaining priorities, and does not respect the critical role we serve in British Columbia’s public education system.
This is BCPSEA’s first offer, and it has not been accepted. We know from the last round of negotiations that collective bargaining is a process, and that there is plenty of work to do before we get to a tentative agreement.
We are committed to the negotiation process and the priorities school support workers across our province identified for this round of bargaining. We will continue to pursue your priorities at the bargaining table, and are in the process of confirming additional bargaining dates. We will provide an update when we have more information to share.
In the meantime, we continue to communicate with other public sector unions who are at the table—including the BC Teachers’ Federation, the BC General Employees’ Union, the Hospital Employees’ Union and the Health Sciences Association of BC—with the common goal of fair wages and working conditions for all public sector workers in our province.
Your continued support and engagement is critical to the success of bargaining. Please make sure your local has your personal email address for updates. You can find updates at bcschools.cupe.ca, our Facebook page @cupek12bc, and directly from your local.
Schools should be a safe, inclusive places. But underfunding for B.C. schools means there are not enough school support workers.
And that’s making school harder. For everyone.
Our students deserve better.
We deserve better.
Over the past school year, thousands of school support workers have signed our message to the Minister of Education telling them and the provincial government we need the resources to support students, and to make B.C. schools safer, better places to work and learn.
We know there are solutions, and we know that we are not alone in wanting proper funding for B.C. schools. The teachers we work with every day, the parents of the students we support, our friends, neighbours, our communities want the same.
So, we have launched a new campaign – Better BC Schools – so the parents, teachers, and members of the communities we serve can add their voices.
Digital and social media ads are running across the province, and we are asking everyone to add their names to our message calling for more funding to make better schools for everyone.
What can I do to help?
Go to betterBCschools.ca and sign our message TODAY!
Go to our Facebook page and share our campaign video with your family, friends, and neighbours.
Locals – please share this bulletin with your local teacher unions, your District Parent Advisory Councils, and other community allies that believe in strong, public schools.
The Ministry of Education and Child Care has informed all B.C. school districts that Learning Improvement Fund allocations for the 2025-2026 school year are now available.
LIF provides an ongoing multi-year commitment from the provincial government for additional resources to the K-12 public education system, specifically targeted to support students with diverse needs. The LIF regulation, including what it can be use for, can be found here.
All B.C. school districts are required to engage in genuine consultation with local unions on how its LIF allocation will be used.
School districts are required to confirm with BCPSEA that consultations were (i) held with mutual respect and cooperation, and (ii) there is legitimate intent to take into account the concerns of both parties. Districts and locals must confirm by signing and submitting the Confirmation of Genuine Consultation form by June 20, 2025.
If your local does not agree that genuine consultations have taken place, please inform your National Servicing Representative. If a local and school district cannot agree on consultations, the BC Public School Employers’ Association (BCPSEA) will work with the parties to facilitate the process.
CLICK HERE for the 2025-26 Learning Improvement Fund Allocations
CLICK HERE for the Confirmation of Genuine Consultation form
