This column first appeared in the Calgary Sun newspaper. It is now FREE for reprinting
 

Albertans cannot afford to spend an extra $2 billion to meet the teachers’ union’s demands during this strike.

The Alberta government reports the Alberta Teachers Association wants an additional $2 billion.

That would be over and above the $2.6 billion the government has allocated for the teachers’ situation over four years.

The interest costs alone on that extra borrowed money would be enough to pay the salary of 1,000 teachers.

This is not fair to hardworking Albertans.

The province is on track to have a debt of $84.3 billion this year.

Taxpayers cannot afford it if the government caves to this union’s demand, backs up the money truck and fire-hose-sprays more cash at this big government union.

The government has already increased funding for education by 33 per cent since 2021-22 and it’s time for Alberta Premier Danielle Smith to tell these union bosses “no more.”

Even with inflation and student population factored in, the provincial government is still spending more on education since Smith took over as premier.

Let’s look at what the teachers’ union rejected.

The government had offered Alberta teachers a 12 per cent raise over four years, along with hiring 3,000 more teachers plus 1,500 more educational assistants to help in classrooms. Some teachers would get a 17 per cent pay raise due to pay grid changes.

If the teachers had accepted the offer, the government says it would have made them the highest paid teachers in Western Canada.

New teachers would have started at about $71,000 per year while teachers with seven years experience would be making more than $100,000.

The province had also committed earlier to spending $8.6 billion to build more than 100 new schools across Alberta.

But the teachers’ union rejected the contract offer.

And now it’s demanding $2,000,000,000 more than what the government already offered.

Alberta’s teachers are paid well and they get a lot of time off.

For example, a middle school in Red Deer lists 189 classroom days for teachers, including 13 “staff learning” days, all of which land next to a weekend.

Not including those 13 professional development days, teachers at the school are scheduled to be with students in classrooms for 176 days.

In the regular working world, there are about 240 workdays, not including holidays and vacation days.

Teachers also get benefits, a pension and solid job security

Compare that job situation to working as a police officer, a paramedic or a wintertime carpenter, and teachers should count their gold-star stickers.

The offer from the provincial government was more than fair and the Taxpayers Federation would have told Smith it was too generous.

Now the teachers are demanding $2 billion more than the $2.6 billion the government has already offered them.

This extra spending would be borrowed money, plus interest.

If the Alberta government caves to the union’s demands and borrows $2 billion at four per cent, it would cost taxpayers about $80 million extra in interest charges every year.

That kind of money would pay the salary of about 1,000 teachers.

The students currently blocked from classrooms would be on the hook to pay this money back when they hit the workforce.

Teachers can think about that while they are off work with no strike pay from their union.

Smith did the right thing when she announced parents will get a refund on this strike. Parents with students under the age of 12 who are barred from their classrooms will be paid $30 per student per day missed for the duration of the strike. Parents deserve a refund if their kids aren’t getting the education teachers are paid to provide.

There are simple facts to remember during this strike:

More money for this contract means more debt or higher taxes.Taxpayers can’t afford either. So, Smith needs to dig her heels in and tell this big government teachers union to get real.

Kris Sims is the Alberta Director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation