Article content continued

Then again, if the government wanted to be generous to teachers, it would recognize that enrolment has increased four times faster than teacher hirings. The fact the government has been denying this issue, and is now insisting this remain off the negotiating table, is troubling from a couple of perspectives.

In the last decade and a half of population growth, the Sask. Party had no qualms boasting that it’s no coincidence this success has overlapped its tenure in government. Its whole political narrative is that the NDP couldn’t even envision growth in Saskatchewan, which left the province with an infrastructure deficit.

However, the Sask. Party government has never been as eager to acknowledge that problems do accompany growth, and crowded classrooms are one of the biggest issues.

Saskatchewan’s enrolment crisis hasn’t just been sprung on the government during these STF negotiations. Enrolment increased to 184,004 in the 2018-19 school year from 173,548 in 2014-15. (Figures for the 2019-20 years are expected to come out next month.)

And it’s been the teachers who have been talking about this as a concern even before the Sask. Party government cut the education budget by $55 million two years ago.It’s taken until this year’s budget for Premier Scott Moe (as he promised to do in his 2018 party leadership bid) to fully restore the education money cut in the 2017 budget. This means what we have received is, essentially, a two-year education spending freeze.