REGINA, Sask. — The Opposition New Democrats continued their criticism of the government this week over school funding, on the heels of recently released data from the Saskatchewan Teachers' Federation.
At a news conference joined by two retired Saskatchewan teachers, critics Matt Love and Joan Pratchler blasted what Love termed “a decade of cuts at the hands of the Saskatchewan Party government.”
“Just last week the Saskatchewan Teachers' Federation said that over the past 10 years the Sask. Party government has cut roughly $1,500 from every student and their education in this province,” Love said. “Now we have the best teachers in the world and we can have the best schools, but not with a government that is constantly getting in the way and forcing cuts.”
Love said that over the last six years he has been in the legislature, “I've watched this government fail to invest, fail to support students and the staff that work with them, and drive our education system from first to last.”
He pointed to Statistics Canada data showing the amount Saskatchewan families are being forced to pay out of pocket for education has increased 39 per cent over the past decade, which Love called unacceptable.
He also pointed to Saskatchewan Rivers School Division having seen $12.4 million in cuts to per-student funding.
“There is no corner of this province that is immune to the devastation that Scott Moe and his government have inflicted on public education in Saskatchewan.”
Love said that with the fall session approaching, both he and Pratchler are “going to continue consulting across the sector with teachers, with parents and families, with school boards, with other folks who have a vested interest in working on our education system to improve our classrooms.
“We've been doing this work for a number of years. We're going to be ramping that up so we can bring forward the kinds of solutions that families and students and educators in this province need.”
In a response to the NDP news conference, the Ministry of Education noted the government “continues to make major investments in education to support students. This includes increasing funding and expanding classroom supports to reflect the evolving needs of Saskatchewan classrooms.”
The ministry pointed out that during the 2026-27 school year, Saskatchewan’s 27 school divisions will receive $2.5 billion in operating funding. It also noted that over the past three years, school operating funding has increased approximately 20 per cent.
The ministry added that the government provides $436.2 million for classroom supports, including the expansion of the Specialized Support Model by an additional 50 schools this year for a total of 108 across the province.
In response to the government’s claims of funding going up, Love had this to say:
“Well, I'll say two things to that. Number one, if we wanted the same quality of education today that we had 10 years ago, we would need to see about a $1,500 increase per student in this province. So when we talk about cuts in education, that's what this government has done.”
He said that according to STF data, for an average class of 30 students, that amounts to almost $45,000 for every classroom in the province.
“This is the hole that's been dug by a decade of Sask. Party failure in education.”
Love added that if the government wants to claim there's been an increase in education funding in recent years, “that's because of one thing: teachers advocating for their classroom conditions.”
“This is a government that rallied against teachers. They put up billboards to run down the work of teachers. Teachers negotiated a contract that did see more teachers in schools and in classrooms. This government can take no credit for that. They actively worked against those increases, but I will give credit to teachers for working hard and advocating for classroom conditions where they work, because those are conditions where students learn.”
