Education minister struggles with $7.8-million question

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Education Minister Bill Hogan can’t say exactly how the government decided that $7.8 million is the right amount of money to help New Brunswick students who fell behind in their studies during the pandemic.

And there’s only $604,000 in the education department’s $1.85-billion 2024-2025 fiscal year spending plan to develop a strategy to recruit and retain teachers, which the Liberals and Greens say is far too low.

Facing questions in the legislature on Tuesday morning, Education Minister Bill Hogan wouldn’t, or couldn’t, explain exactly how the $7.8-million figure was reached, and why the government is confident that will be enough.

Last month, Finance Minister Ernie Steeves’s budget speech said government is “working to reverse the impacts on educational outcomes due to lost instruction time during the pandemic.”

“Student achievement in literacy and numeracy is dropping,” Steeves said in late March. “Budget 2024-2025 includes $7.8 million to provide the supports needed within our anglophone and francophone sectors to reverse these recent trends and position our students for success.”

On Tuesday, Hogan was twice asked by Liberal education critic Francine Landry to break down that spending, but didn’t either time, instead speaking in generalities.

“We evaluate the students, we depend largely on the teachers, and the data that they provide to identify the students that have these needs and have these gaps, the building blocks of reading (and literacy) … so that we can have targeted and focused intervention,” he said, later adding that the government is “committed to not leaving any child behind.”

Hogan was also questioned about the government’s efforts to recruit and retain teachers. He said $604,000 has been allocated to get “quick wins” and “develop a strategy with all of our partners” for recruitment and retention.

“It’s an extremely important issue. We need to evaluate a lot of different factors … because being a teacher is not a job. It’s a calling,” he said.

Other topics discussed included:

• New Brunswick’s inclusion policy, which Hogan said is no longer under government scrutiny because he’s “not convinced it needs to be reviewed”;
• The need for more affordable child care spaces. Hogan revealed that there are 2,900 parents waiting for spaces for their children to tap into the spaces, which are largely funded by Ottawa and which cost New Brunswick parents $12.82 a day;
•  The government’s aborted revision of the Education Act. Hogan said “there’s no plan to have a new Education Act,” and;
• The need for 1,000 new teachers over the next five years, including 260 this fall. Hogan said he’s confident that number will be reached.

Asked for her thoughts on Hogan’s answer about the $7.8 million, Landry described them as “very vague” and without “measure.”

“There’s no way that that $7.8 million will actually increase the achievements that we need in our schools,” she said.

Asked about the $604,000 for the recruitment and retention strategy, Landry said “that’s not enough.”

“We need at least 600 (new teachers per year) and we’re only graduating 300 (a year). Recruitment of teachers should have much more attention.”

Green education critic Kevin Arseneau also wasn’t impressed with Hogan’s answers, describing them as “disinteresting.” Regarding the $7.8 million, he took aim at Hogan’s lack of specifics, noting that the Tories usually focus on what results spending will achieve.

“There is a lot of catching up to do, but this is nothing new either.”