February 11 to 17 is Teacher and Staff Appreciation Week in Saskatchewan. This year's theme is "Shaping the Future Together," and our government reaffirms its commitment to listening to and collaborating with our educators to improve today's classrooms. To highlight this commitment, our government has made several new investments to improve classrooms across our province.
Nine local teacher-led solutions through the new Teacher Innovation and Support Fund have been selected for funding effective immediately. Announced last month, this program provides $2.5 million in funding, allowing teachers to work with their school administration to apply for up to $75,000 to put toward projects that assist in providing better student and teacher experiences within today's classrooms.
Projects range from innovative ideas supporting literacy, mental health and wellness, STEM and teacher practice. The next round of successful applications will be awarded in the coming weeks, and the pilot will run until the end of the 2024-25 school year.
Eight Saskatchewan schools have been selected to implement the Specialized Support Classroom Pilot through a $3.6 million investment. This pilot aims to help staff in schools manage and de-escalate behavioural incidents by helping students practice self-regulation skills while addressing the impacts of classroom disruptions.
An investment of $32 million for 45 new relocatable classrooms will help increase classroom space throughout the province. Funding is allocated to Regina, Saskatoon, Humboldt, Lloydminster, Lumsden, Pilot Butte, Warman and Weyburn.
A new formula has been developed to support school enrolment growth. With recent immigration, a new trend has emerged where students continue to arrive in our schools throughout the year. The new formula determines eligibility for post-September enrolment growth funding, taking into account actual growth from October through January and projected growth for the rest of the school year.
Our government thanks the incredibly hard-working teachers and educational staff within this province. We look forward to continuing to work with teachers, schools and school divisions to improve the experience in Saskatchewan classrooms for all students.
Saskatchewan’s labour market is off to a strong start in 2024, with 12,900 new jobs added from January 2023 to January 2024. The provincial labour force also reached a record high for January of 623,300. Building a labour force to support the economy is a top priority to our government and the province is consistently making strategic investments to promote economic growth.
A strong and growing labour force helps Saskatchewan’s key industries continue to grow, and our province’s agriculture sector just received exciting news on its growth. Our province has posted a fourth consecutive year of record agri-food exports, with shipments totaling $20.2 billion for 2023. With this record, our province has also surpassed its Growth Plan target of $20 billion in agri-food exports by 2030.
As Saskatchewan’s agriculture industry continues to grow, private sector companies continue to invest and expand in our province. The Louis Dreyfus Company recently announced a new pea protein isolate production plant at the site of its existing industrial complex in Yorkton. This announcement once again shows how Saskatchewan continues to be a great place to invest and do business.
Our strong and growing economy allows our government to invest in the health care system. Saskatchewan physicians and our government recently ratified a new four-year contract, which includes an overall average general rate increase of 2.5 per cent per year and a competitive market rate adjustment applied to the first year of the agreement. The contract also includes increased funding to support long term retention, parental leave and continuing medical education.
Work also continues under the province’s Heath Human Resources Action Plan. Since September 2021, 262 physicians have been recruited to the province. The Rural and Remote Recruitment Incentive of up to $50,000 has resulted in 253 hard-to-recruit positions being filled. A total of 964 nursing graduates have been hired, and 178 registered nurses recruited from the Philippines have arrived in Saskatchewan. Our government continues to make these investments to build our health care system, ensuring you receive the care you need and deserve.
As our government continues to move forward with plans to build and protect our great province, we look forward to hearing from you. You can reach my constituency office at 306-692-8884 or mjnorthmla@sasktel.net.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of this publication.
