While "unethical" may be a bit of a stretch, offering teachers more money to teach bigger classes is certainly no way to improve the education system in British Columbia.
The government has proposed that school districts pay each teacher an additional $2,500 for each student beyond the standard 30-student cap.
This effort by the government, and the reaction by teachers and their union, the B.C. Teachers' Federation, goes to the heart of the matter - seeking to pare down the education budget throughout the province.
It would appear that government bean-counters have told the ruling B.C. Liberals that it would be cheaper to pay for bigger classes rather than hiring more teachers and maintaining the resulting larger buildings.
In every sector, health remaining the biggest challenge, this government has been seeking to cut costs everywhere it can. The "net-zero" approach to labour contracts that so irritated the teachers is a product of this fiscal approach.
No doubt, we want our elected officials to be fiscally prudent. And there are some things that we need to pay for, including health and education.
But of all the ideas that have been put forth in the effort to keep the provincial education budget in check, this is perhaps one of the most disappointing. Larger class sizes would not be good for students, teachers hate the idea and school districts wouldn't be able to afford such compensation.
