Minister reverses plan to cut 600 education jobs

New Brunswick's new education minister has reversed a decision by his predecessor to cut almost 600 contract jobs for library assistants and student support staff across the province.

Roland Haché said Thursday he's taking more than $2 million from the teachers' Innovative Learning Fund so the workers can get their jobs back.

Earlier this year, former education minister Kelly Lamrock said those contract workers wouldn't be coming back in the fall.

Shortly after becoming education minister, in June, Haché put a freeze on the learning fund, saying he would decide later what to do with it. The fund was created to provide grants to teachers who wanted to try out new approaches to teaching in their classrooms.

Haché's decision to use the money to keep the contract workers on the job still leaves $1 million in the Innovative Learning Fund.

The move should put all 588 contract workers back on the job, according to Sandy Harding, president of the CUPE union branch that represents them.

"Educational support staff are a key component to education, and now I think this government understands … that when you cut us you're truly having a true impact," Harding said.

Mary Hall, a library assistant at Fredericton High School, was the only employee left there after the cuts. She was delighted to hear about Haché's decision.

"I'm absolutely thrilled. I have been wondering how in the world I would ever run Fredericton High School library by myself. It's a huge library, and when I first started there we had a full-time librarian with two library assistants, and as you know they were cutting it down to me alone without any volunteer help," Hall said.