Overview: Contingency measures as talks stall
As Alberta braces for a potential teacher strike, the provincial government announced a contingency package aimed at easing the disruption for families with students under 12. Finance Minister Nate Horner said the government would offer a $30-per-day-per-child payment to eligible families, retroactive to the start of the walkout if a strike begins. The plan, designed to keep children engaged while schools are closed, would be accompanied by online homeschooling resources to help parents maintain continuity in learning during the disruption.
How the plan would work for families
The proposed payments would be delivered to families at the end of October, with eligibility tied to children under 12 who are kept out of classrooms due to the strike. The government emphasized that the relief is targeted at practical needs arising from the disruption, while also providing digital learning tools to support at-home instruction when in-person schooling isn’t available. Premier Danielle Smith noted that the policy is a stopgap aimed at mitigating the impact on families while negotiations continue.
Union response and the breaking point in negotiations
On Monday, the Alberta Teachers’ Association reported that 89 per cent of its members rejected a memorandum of understanding with the province regarding a four-year contract. Smith acknowledged the setback, saying, “To say I’m disappointed is an understatement.” She added that negotiations had been ongoing for many months and criticized the timing of the rejection, arguing that the union had previously supported elements of the proposal. “Teachers have now rejected two contract settlements that reflected positions the union either proposed or supported as workable solutions to the interests of their members,” she said, calling the MOU “very generous” and noting it represented “the highest general wage increase proposed in over a decade.”
Addressing classroom realities and the longer-term fix
Beyond pay talks, Smith stressed that the government is tackling classroom complexity and large classes. She challenged the ATA’s push for a hard cap of 30 students per classroom, explaining that Alberta lacks the brick-and-mortar space to realize such a goal in the near term. “We can’t materialize schools out of thin air,” she argued, highlighting an ongoing capital plan to expand school capacity. The government has accelerated an $8.6 billion school-build program designed to add 130 new schools and create roughly 200,000 school spaces by 2030. Smith noted that about 80,000 new students have entered the Alberta school system over the past three years, underscoring the demand for more physical space and resources to lower class sizes over time.
What comes next: timelines and expectations
With strike dynamics still in play, the government signaled a preference for the ATA to return to the table, urging negotiations to resume and for organizers to consider the practical implications of a walkout on families and students. The plan to compensate families is pitched as a bridge measure, intended to sustain learning while structural upgrades continue in parallel. Officials cautioned that true reductions in class sizes will come with the completion of new classrooms and schools, not quick fixes, and the province remains committed to expanding capacity to serve Alberta’s growing student population.
