Recognizing excellence in B.C. schools

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Nominations for the Premier’s Awards for Excellence in Education are open. These awards are a great opportunity to highlight and celebrate the vital role support staff play in delivering quality public education in the province. There are three specific awards that are particularly relevant to K-12 school support members.

Outstanding Support – School Community

This category is open to individuals who provide support in a broader school setting. School support workers are eligible for nomination, including bus drivers, crossing guards, student supervisors, Indigenous cultural facilitators, custodians, maintenance/trades, and clerical.

Outstanding Support – Teaching Assistant

This category is open to Educational Assistants (including Indigenous Education Support Workers and Indigenous Youth Workers) who provide support within a classroom setting.

For these awards recognizing outstanding support, nominees will have:

  • Contributed to a healthy, safe and productive school community by creating inclusive, connected and engaging experiences for students, parents and the community.
  • Created an exciting and engaging environment for individual students or a group of students through innovative techniques.
  • Built strong collaborative relationships with other education professionals to support a student or group of students, in the school or community.
  • Supported students in their intellectual, human and social, or career development through individualized support and encouragement.

Outstanding Team Collaboration

This category is open to a team of at least three members (one of whom must hold a valid B.C. teaching certificate).  Criteria for nominees include:

  • Team members have collaborated on an exceptional initiative that has positively impacted student learning.
  • The success of the initiative is a result of a true collaboration among team members, not simply a collection of individual accomplishments.
  • The initiative addresses student needs.
  • The endeavors undertaken go above and beyond regular work or involve innovative approaches to curricular programming.

The Premier’s Awards for Excellence in Education (PAEE) were created to recognize the exceptional contributions of B.C.’s teachers, administrators and support staff that are vital to the cultural, economic and social well-being of the province. The PAEE provide students, parents, teachers and other members of the community with an opportunity to celebrate those who make a real difference in B.C. schools.

This year, three award recipients will be chosen for each of the ten categories below. Each recipient will receive a taxable personal bursary for professional learning and a contribution to their school community for professional learning.

Information on how to nominate a school support worker for one of these awards can be found on the B.C. government website.

Nominations for the 2023 Premier’s Awards for Excellence in Education will be accepted until May 5th. Nominations need to have the support of a superintendent or designate.

View PDF here.

Bulletin – 6.75% wage increases starting July 1

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New inflation figures released this week confirm that the maximum wage protections in our K-12 Provincial Framework Agreement will be triggered, and members will receive the full 6.75 percent wage increase starting July 1, 2023.

This brings the total general wage increases for the first two years of the agreement to well over 10 percent for most members.

BCPSEA will be providing school districts with updated wage grids as soon as possible. Wage grids will also be sent to locals to share with their membership.

The Provincial Framework Agreement also includes a cost-of-living wage protection for July 1, 2024. We expect to have information on this increase this time next year.

View PDF here.

Bulletin – K-12 bargaining concludes in B.C.

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All K-12 school support locals in the province have ratified renewed collective agreements with their respective school districts as of this week. This caps off a very successful round of bargaining that saw significant gains – and no concessions – for the provinces over 40,000 school support workers.

Some of the improvements K-12 school support locals achieved include increased hours for Education Assistants, market adjustments to address recruitment and retention challenges, and other gains utilizing local bargaining table funding.

The successful local bargaining built on the Provincial Framework Agreement, reached with the B.C. Public School Employers’ Association in September 2023. The 3-year PFA gained new commitments for support staff education, a new Provincial Joint Health and Safety Taskforce with a mandate that includes supporting measures to address workplace violence prevention, and $3 million in annual funding for benefit enhancements (more details on these enhancements will be released shortly).

The PFA also included general wage increases and cost of living adjustments. Thanks to unprecedented cooperation and solidarity between public sector unions in B.C., these increases exceed those seen in most other Canadian jurisdictions.

The biggest factor to the success of this round of bargaining sits with the support, involvement, and mobilization of school support members across the province. Members across B.C. stood strong with their union, at the local and provincial levels. Several locals across the province were faced with concession demands by their respective school districts. But members stepped up with mobilization efforts, participating in strike training and kept united fronts across the province.

The K-12 Presidents Council would like to thank all members for their extraordinary support and solidarity during this round of bargaining. The gains we’ve made recognize the crucial role your work means to B.C. students, families, and communities.

View PDF here.

Bulletin – K-12 Presidents Council stands in solidarity with Ontario education workers

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With our fellow education workers in Ontario facing an unprecedented attack on their rights and their ability to serve students, B.C.’s K-12 Presidents Council is sending a message of support and solidarity to the Ontario School Board Council of Union and its 55,000 members as they prepare to go on strike.

The appalling disregard of the Charter rights of education workers in Ontario is disgraceful and should alarm all workers across B.C. and Canada. Invoking the Notwithstanding Clause to circumvent fair collective bargaining sets a dangerous precedent. If our Charter rights as workers can be so casually tossed aside, they will mean virtually nothing.

Education workers in Ontario have been subjected to more than a decade of regressive governments that have forced an austerity agenda on that province’s education system. It has been on the back of education workers and hurt the quality of education they can deliver to Ontario students and families. They deserve a better deal that recognizes the critical role they serve in schools and communities.

We are calling on the Ford government to stop its threats and attacks, return to the table and negotiate in good faith with the OSBCU. The best way to ensure a quality and accessible education for all Ontario students is secure long-term stability and labour peace at the bargaining table with a fair contract.

To all education workers in Ontario, please know that you are not alone. The over 70,000 education members in B.C. represented by the K-12 Presidents Council are standing with you, as are 715,000 CUPE members across Canada. Your courage and determination are inspiring. Your fight is our fight.

We’ve got your back!

In solidarity, B.C.’s K-12 Presidents Council

 

View PDF here.

Bulletin – Presidents Council endorses Provincial Framework Agreement

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The K-12 Presidents are endorsing the new Provincial Framework Agreement reached last week. The British Columbia Public School Employers’ Association (BCPSEA) also endorses the agreement. Both recommend the agreement be part of local collective agreements.

The Provincial Framework Agreement (PFA) has a 3-year term in effect from July 1, 2022, to June 30, 2025. It includes general wage increases in each year.

  • July 1, 2022: $0.25 per hour wage increase plus an additional 3.24%
  • July 1, 2023: 5.5% increase, and up to 1.25% cost-of-living adjustment (COLA). For clarity, the general wage increase will be at minimum 5.5%, to a maximum of 6.75%
  • July 1, 2024: 2% increase, and up to a 1% COLA. For clarity, the general wage increase will be at minimum 2%, to a maximum of 3%

COLA is according to the BC consumer price index annual average.

The PFA also includes provincial government funding for local bargaining to address local issues. It’s based on full-time enrolled students in districts, with a minimum amount.

  • 2022/2023: $11.5 million allocated to school districts, with a $40,000 minimum
  • 2023/2024: $13.8 million allocated, with a $50,000 minimum
  • 2024/2025: $17.8 million allocated, with a $60,000 minimum

In local bargaining, K-12 locals and school districts will negotiate how to use these funds. The only thing they can’t go towards are general wage increase.

Other highlights of the framework agreement include:

Education
$50,000 per year in 2022 and 2023 for support staff education, with an another $1 million per year beginning in 2024. The joint Support Staff Education Committee (SSEC) will decide on allocating this money.

Workplace violence prevention
A new Provincial Joint Health and Safety Taskforce. Its mandate includes supporting measures to address workplace violence prevention.

Benefits
$3 million in annual funding for potential benefit enhancements. Also, $1 million in one-time funding for addictions treatment support programs.

_________

In addition to the PFA, the Ministry of Education will be increasing the Learning Improvement Fund to $25 million for the 2023/2024 and 2024/2025 school years. This will allow for more Education Assistant hours across the province.

_________

The K-12 Presidents Council recommends the framework agreement for local bargaining proposals. PFA provisions come into effect when part of a ratified local collective agreement, with general wage increases retroactive to July 1, 2022. It is local collective agreements that members of K-12 locals approve and ratify.

Local bargaining needs to complete and ratified by January 25, 2023.

Please direct questions on the PFA and local bargaining to your local executive.

CLICK here for the complete Provincial Framework Agreement.

View PDF here.