The Manitoba government continues to reduce class sizes for students in kindergarten to Grade 3 by providing an additional $3 million in additional funding. This announcement was made by Education and Advanced Learning Minister James Allum.
“More one-on-one time with teachers during the critical early years lays a strong foundation for student success and this investment will allow school divisions to hire at least 50 more full-time teachers,” said Minister Allum.
The new funding will target school divisions that have some of the largest classes and bring total provincial funding for the smaller classes initiative to $10 million in 2014-15.
“As a parent of two school-age children, and as the president of our parent council, I strongly support the smaller class size initiative which would allow teachers to work with our children in a more personal way – ultimately creating a better learning environment for both student and teacher,” Darryl Balasko, president of the Earl Grey School Parent Advisory Council.
“It is important that our teachers have opportunities to interact one on one with our young children to develop their academic and social skills in a smaller classroom setting,” said Suzanne Hrynyk, chair of the Winnipeg School Division’s Board of Trustees.
In 2011, the province announced it would provide new supports to enable school divisions to cap kindergarten to Grade 3 classrooms at 20 students by September 2017.
Since then, partnering with school divisions, 213 additional teachers have been hired to directly reduce large classes across the province. Schools have seen significant results including:
- 225 more kindergarten to Grade 3 classes;
- 437 more kindergarten to Grade 3 classes with 20 or fewer students; and
- the reduction of 261 kindergarten to Grade 3 classes with 24 or greater students, representing a 41 per cent reduction in the largest classes.
“Our government has recently renewed its strong commitment to education funding. In the past, economic uncertainty meant funding cuts to our schools and teacher layoffs. Critics have again called for drastic cuts to our schools, but we know that education investments will give our students the best start to succeed,” said Minister Allum.
School divisions are required to post class sizes of all kindergarten to Grade 3 classes on their websites. Further information on the smaller class size initiative can be found at www.edu.gov.mb.ca/k12/schools.
