Education Department gives districts another $14.6M after funding controversy

The New Brunswick Department of Education will be giving the province's seven school districts a combined $14.6 million in additional funding after complaints that earlier allocations would require laying off dozens of employees.

The additional funding is to be used for classroom resources aimed at improving numeracy and literacy scores, and reducing chronic absenteeism rates, Education Minister Claire Johnson told reporters Thursday afternoon.

That means dozens of school library workers who've already been given layoff notices, won't be coming back in the fall, despite the added money.

"Those decisions belong to the district and we respect what they're going to choose to do," Johnson said.

"But to my knowledge, no, there were no plans to bring them back because we're really looking at having the resources close to the classroom with regards to literacy and numeracy."

Last month, Johnson and Premier Susan Holt found themselves fending off criticism about how the province planned to fund the four anglophone school districts and three francophone districts for the 2025-2026 fiscal year.

While overall funding to the districts went up by $200 million, directives on how to spend the money left the districts short by $43 million for certain programs.

That resulted in districts deciding to lay off library workers, educational assistants and administrative staff as part of the department's directive to have more resources focused on classroom teaching.

WATCH | Education minister says new funding is to 'support teachers and students in the classroom': 

School districts get additional $14.6M after feeling forced to cut spending

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After weeks of public pressure, the New Brunswick government is giving school districts an additional $14.6 million to “maintain essential supports for students.”

Letters sent from Ryan Donaghy, the deputy education minister, and shared with CBC News show Anglophone South School District will received an additional $3.45 million, Anglophone West $3 million, Anglophone East $2.4 million, and Anglophone North $1.6 million.

Francophone South School District will receive an additional $2 million, Francophone Northeast will get $1.2 million, and Francophone Northwest $750,000.

Johnson declined to specify the exact roles that districts will be permitted to hire for using the extra funding, or whether any laid-off employees can expect to keep their jobs.

"We trust the districts, and we have confidence in the decisions they will make," she said.

"We will measure the indicators with literacy and numeracy. We will be assessing their students' results. That's how we will know if we're on the right path, and we will keep collaborating with the districts in order to meet our goals."

New money allows district to hire more staff

The additional funding will allow Francophone South to "reintegrate" about 30 full-time teaching positions into its schools, spokesperson Jean-Luc Thériault said in an email.

"Which represents a step in the right direction," he said.

But he said the district remains concerned about the quality of services offered to students with respect to learning, classroom support and teacher training.

"Our budget planning is still underway, and we are concerned that we may not be able to achieve a balanced budget given the specific needs related to the growth of our school district," Thériault wrote.

"This is why we have requested a meeting with the Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development to discuss in greater depth these critical issues for the success of our students."

CUPE disappointed

From Johnson's message, it appears 49 library workers that Anglophone West and Anglophone South laid off will not keep their jobs, said Simon Ouellette, spokesperson for CUPE New Brunswick, the union representing them.

"It seemed like the minister has again failed to recognize the importance of school libraries and the school library workers," Ouellette said.

"Without the workers, the libraries will fall into decrepitude."

Ouellette said CUPE is preparing to launch a labour board complaint, considering the cuts to library workers come in the middle of bargaining between their union and employer.

"So all of that is very concerning, but the elimination of an entire [job] classification is the most egregious."

Ouellette said he's unsure whether other job categories, such as education assistants, will still be affected in light of the additional funding.