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trustees vote

Province miffed at trustees association recommending rejection Local school trustees uncommitted so far The province isn't happy that the provincial public school trustees association has recommended rejection of the tentative contract between B.C.

Province miffed at trustees association recommending rejection Local school trustees uncommitted so far The province isn't happy that the provincial public school trustees association has recommended rejection of the tentative contract between B.C. and the teachers. Howe Sound school district trustees, however, have not yet taken an official position for or against the tentative agreement, says chair Judy Bourhis. The board of directors of the B.C. Public School Employers Association recommends that district trustees reject the tentative agreement that would give teachers a 2 per cent salary increase effective April 1, 2000, and create 1,200 teaching positions in the next three years. B.C.'s teachers have voted on the agreement, but the final tally won't be known for several days yet. The province's trustees meet June 4 for an information session, then do their own voting June 15-19, explains Bourhis. The recommendation by the trustees association shows it is "bent on shortchanging Kindergarten to Grade 12 students and their parents," says a press release from Education Minister Paul Ramsey. "I'm disappointed in the board, but I have faith that individual trustees, on close inspection of this pro-student tentative agreement, will do what's right for the children of B.C.," Ramsey says in the release. The province is tying $150 million in "new dollars" toward creating new classrooms, and establishing standards that would lower class sizes, into the teachers agreement.