Cuts to education sector made ‘without much forethought’: N.S. NDP

CITYnews halifax /   By Steve Gow

Nova Scotia’s New Democrats are speaking out after the province announced it was eliminating dozens of jobs in education late last week.

The Labour and Advanced Education Critic for the NDP says the decision to get rid of 150 education positions is being made “without much forethought.”

“I’m not sure what the compelling data is that this is the answer to what ails the school system,” says Paul Wozney.

The NDP critic’s comment comes after Nova Scotia’s Education Minister Brendan Maguire told reporters on Thursday that 47 of the jobs impacted have been vacant for years.

He says the rest will be shuffling teachers from administrative and specialist roles back to classroom settings.

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Wozney says the government is misunderstanding who is qualified to do that work in the school system.

“I would want to see the paper that says here is who is doing specialist roles, here are their qualifications (and) they can be directed in this particular way,” says Wozney, who is also former president of the Nova Scotia Teachers’ Union.

Wozney says the cuts are due in part to the government making decisions without doing the work to understand the impact they’ll have.

It also comes on the heels of NSCC announcing last week that it will be eliminating 91 jobs, including librarians who deliver the research support that students rely on.

That move comes in part due to the province axing $9.4 million from the college’s operating budget.

“Decisions like these from the Houston government don’t help young people build a bright future here in the province,” said Wozney in a statement last week. “There is clearly no plan, and it’s our schools, our students, and our communities who are paying the price.”