Teachers awarded up to nine extra paid days off; Four districts ignored ministry rules on class sizes and special-needs kids, arbitrator rules

(Vancouver Sun, Tue Jan 12 2010, Janet Steffenhagen)

School districts that were found to have violated B.C. law about class size and composition in 2006-07 and 2007-08 have been ordered to compensate teachers by giving them paid days off.

In a ruling released Monday, arbitrator James Dorsey said teachers deserve compensation because they carried the burden when districts ignored the rules in creating classes with more than 30 students and/or more than three pupils with special needs.

He ordered Vancouver, Saanich, Qualicum and Coast Mountains to grant release time, or pay in lieu, ranging from one day to nine days, to 21 teachers.

Although the ruling deals with only a small number of complaints, the B.C. Teachers' Federation said it is significant because it will be used to settle thousands of similar grievances filed against other districts that the union says have flouted class size and composition rules since they were introduced in 2006 as Bill 33.

"This is a win for teachers, classrooms and learning conditions in schools," BCTF vice-president Susan Lambert said in an interview. "What Dorsey is saying is that boards will be held accountable for the legislative limits in Bill 33."

Dorsey also signalled that tight budgets can't be used as an excuse to skirt the rules.

The B.C. Public School Employers' Association, which represents boards of education in labour matters, said the decision provides guidance about redress and will be discussed next week when the parties meet to consider the remaining grievances.

The association also noted in a statement to members that it wasn't a full win for the BCTF because Dorsey didn't back the union's request for compensation for its locals.

Dorsey's ruling followed 54 days of hearings on a few dozen cases that were considered representative of the larger issue in 2006-07 and 2007-08. Since then, the union has filed blanket grievances for 2008-09 and 2009-10.

Lambert said the time and money required to resolve the grievances show the dysfunction of Bill 33. She predicted hundreds of other teachers will also be given compensation as remaining disputes are settled.

In his 74-page decision, Dorsey said teachers have a right to expect to be assigned to a class that meets class size and composition standards.

When the rules are not followed, "the burden of the breach is primarily borne by the teacher(s) of the class, not the principal, superintendent, trustees or even individual students," he says.

If there isn't enough money to meet Bill 33 standards, the government should retract them and "explain to parents and teachers why the standards are no longer desirable or achievable," the ruling states.

The BCTF has been protesting classes that are too large and contain too many unsupported special-needs children since 2002, when the government stripped the union of its ability to negotiate caps at the bargaining table.

That resulted in an increase in class size and composition complaints, which helped fuel a 10-day teacher strike in 2005. To ease the problem, the Liberals introduced Bill 33, which set a limit of 30 students in Grades 4-12 but allowed classes to exceed that maximum if the superintendent and principal agreed it would not hurt learning conditions.

Teacher approval is required for larger classes for Grades 4-7 but not for secondary school.