The Alberta Teachers’ Association

Featured here is a synopsis of key events that influenced education and politics over the past 10 years.

1997

• The ATA releases Public Education in Alberta—An Action Plan For All Albertans.

• An Angus Reid Poll, conducted on behalf of the ATA, finds that 65 per cent of Albertans say that public education is underfunded.

• The Progressive Conservatives under Ralph Klein are re-elected. Garry Mar is reappointed minister of education.

• The government organizes a Provincial Growth Summit, a component of which is an education summit.

• Bauni Mackay is re-elected ATA president.

• An estimated 18,000 teachers rally at the Alberta legislature on October 4. ATA President Bauni Mackay urges teachers to ensure that the government and the public “Get the Message” that education needs everyone’s support.

1998

• The government announces a Private Schools Funding Task Force.

• An Environics poll, conducted on behalf of the ATA, finds that 76 per cent of Albertans say that public education is underfunded.

• The ATA establishes the Committee on Association Services to Administrators to identify and address concerns of school administrators.

• The government increases private school funding.

• The government floats the idea of merit pay for teachers (Motion 512).

• Private Member’s Bill 219 threatens to impose provincial bargaining, remove teachers’ right to strike and remove the right of principals to bargain collectively. The bill is defeated.

• The University of Alberta recognizes the ATA with its Builders of Alberta award.

1999

• An Angus Reid Group omnibus poll, conducted on behalf of the ATA, finds that 71 per cent of Albertans say that public education is underfunded.

• The government tables Bill 20, School Amendment Act, 1999. If passed, the bill would have removed the Board of Reference, a long-standing mechanism that provides teachers with a vehicle to appeal suspension or dismissal.

• Larry Booi is elected ATA president.

• The government merges Alberta Education and Alberta Advanced Education into one ministry, Alberta Learning. Lyle Oberg is appointed minister of learning.

• The government launches the Alberta Initiative for School Improvement.

• The government continues to underfund public education and health care.

2000

• The ATA, Alberta School Boards Association, College of Alberta School Superintendents, Association of School Business Officials of Alberta and Alberta Catholic School Trustees’ Association release A Vision and Agenda for Public Education.

• The government introduces Bill 11, the Health Care Protection Act, which proposes to prohibit private hospitals but would permit surgical facilities to perform surgery that requires an overnight stay.

• A Vector poll on public opinion in Canada finds that 51 per cent of Albertans reported that the government’s highest education priority should be to put additional money into lowering class sizes.

2001

• The Progressive Conservatives under Ralph Klein are re-elected.

• The government’s budget fails to provide adequately for education and is viewed by the ATA as provocation.

• Teachers hold an unprecedented special session of the Annual Representative Assembly on the steps of the Alberta legislature.

2002

• For the first time in 10 years, teachers in Alberta are on strike. More than 20,000 teachers in 22 school jurisdictions are on strike when the government ordered them back to work.

• Bill 12, Education Services Settlement Act, 2002 is passed. The bill establishes a legislated settlement process to resolve the teachers’ labour dispute but prevents the process from addressing classroom conditions and stripped collective agreements of previously negotiated provisions regarding class size and instructional preparation.

• Teachers protest Bill 12 by withdrawing voluntary services.

• Private Member’s Bill 205 is tabled. The proposed legislation would deny teachers the right to serve as school trustees. School Trustee Statutes Amendment Act, 2002 becomes law.

• The ATA, the government and the Alberta School Boards Association reach agreement on matters arising from the Education Services Settlement Act.

• Teachers’ Pension Plans Amendment Act, 2002, is passed. The act enables the government to move forward on its commitment to pay teachers’ portion of the unfunded pension liability for a one-year period in accordance with an agreement between the ATA and the government.

• Alberta’s Commission on Learning is established by the government.

• The ATA releases Falling Through the Cracks, a major report on classroom conditions in Alberta.

2003

• Frank Bruseker is elected ATA president.

• The government releases the Commission on Learning’s recommendations.

• According to an Ipsos-Reid survey, conducted on behalf of the ATA, 76 per cent of Albertans say that the government is not spending enough on public education and 90 per cent say that “class size makes a big difference in the quality of education delivered at public schools.”

2004

• Negotiations for a provincial framework agreement between the ATA, the government and the Alberta School Boards Association collapse. The agreement called on the government to resolve the unfunded liability of the Teachers’ Pension Plan in exchange for teachers’ collective agreements being frozen for 10 years.

• ATA establishes the Blue Ribbon Panel on the School Administrator.

• The Progressive Conservatives under Ralph Klein are re-elected. Gene Zwozdesky is appointed education minister.

• School Amendment Act, 2004, is passed. The act legislates the government’s commitment to expand teachers’ professional responsibilities to include participating in curriculum development and field testing of new curricula; developing, field testing and marking provincial achievement tests and diploma examinations; and supervising student teachers. The act reduces the involvement of the Board of Reference in issues of teacher competence while allowing it to continue to hear employment matters beyond the scope of practice review.

• The ATA, acting on behalf of four teachers who were planning to run in the 2004 school board elections, challenges the constitutionality of School Trustee Statutes Amendment Act, 2002, in court, arguing that running for elections and serving on a school board are important forms of expression that are protected under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

• Teaching Profession Amendment Act, 2004. The act enables the ATA to assess the professional competency of its members through a practice review process and allows non-teaching, certificated central office staff who had been bargained out of the collective agreement to determine whether they would be active, associate or nonmembers of the Association.

2005

• The ATA’s Blue Ribbon Panel on the School Administrator releases its report, which features 30 recommendations.

• The ATA publishes “The Gathering Storm,” which strongly urges the government to reconsider Grade Level of Achievement and Computer Adaptive Assessment.

2006

• The government’s “hold the line” budget disappoints teachers.

• Labour unrest among teachers grows.

• Supreme Court hears teachers’ Charter challenge of Alberta school trustee law—School Trustee Statutes Amendment Act, 2002.

• Ed Stelmach is elected leader of the Alberta Progressive Conservative Party. Ron Liepert is appointed education minister.

2007

• Premier Ed Stelmach announces steps to resolve unfunded liability of the Teachers’ Pension Plan.

• The government and the ATA announce on November 15 an agreement in principle to resolve the pre-1992 unfunded pension liability issue and ensure labour peace for five years.

• The ATA holds an Emergent Representative Assembly (ERA) to debate the memorandum of agreement (MOA) between the government and the ATA. Over 90 per cent of teacher delegates attending ERA vote to accept the MOA.

• Ratification of the MOA is contingent on all 62 Alberta school boards and all 62 ATA bargaining units having five-year collective agreements in place before January 31, 2008.