Teacher contract ruling will cause mass disruption, province tells appeal court

VANCOUVER – The B.C. government says allowing a court ruling on teachers’ bargaining to stand would cause massive disruptions as classes are reorganized and school districts search for tens of millions of dollars to cover the additional costs.

The province is appealing the lower court decision that found it unconstitutional for the government to retroactively remove class size and composition from the collective agreement reached with teachers.

The government wants the B.C. Appeal Court to stay the ruling until their appeal is finished.

Government lawyer Karen Horsman says forcing school boards to implement the ruling now would cause disruption and require layoffs in some areas in order to hire more teachers.

Horsman says if the government has to implement the ruling now, there would be no way to reverse it if the appeal is successful.

The ruling last month also awarded the teachers’ union $2 million and concluded the government attempted to provoke a full-scale strike.