'Not practical numbers': Teachers' union, school division raise questions about Sask. remote learning plan

As Saskatchewan's newest Crown corporation continues to materialize, more questions have been raised as to why it was even needed in the first place.

As Saskatchewan’s newest Crown corporation continues to materialize, more questions have been raised as to why it was even needed in the first place.

On May 2, following session at the legislature, Education Minister Dustin Duncan claimed that the Saskatchewan Distance Learning Centre (Sask. DLC) would save $13 million in operational costs for public school divisions across the province.

“We think for the public school divisions, it'll save about $13 million in operations that will no longer be borne by the public school divisions, and it could be in the neighborhood of 250 teachers that they continue to have funding for, but now don't have the expense related to online learning,” Duncan said.

That quote didn’t sit well with everyone, including the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation (STF) and the Prairie Valley School Division (PVSD).

“What it means for us is we're being forced to pay for courses that, if I look at what we’ve used before, we won't be using. So they [the Ministry of Education] front loaded a cost of $600,000 — removed it from our budget. They estimated over 1,300 courses that our kids would take and our kids have typically taken about 110 online courses, so that means a pretty big hit to our budget right off the top,” PVSD Education Board Chair Janet Kotylak, told CTV News.

“That'll prevent us to from doing some other things in our classrooms, where we need to invest, by pulling that money right out of the top.”

Meanwhile, STF President Samantha Becotte said it has been raising concerns over the course of this year about the need for the new corporation.