Mr. Chase: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This government abandoned its commitment to fund a five-year agreement with teachers. Now, with the 2010-11 academic year approaching and no extra money for teachers' salaries on the table, school boards, students, and families are about to feel the crunch. To the minister: with the Calgary board of education considering eliminating 150 positions to cover its $21 million shortfall, what plans does the minister have to prevent layoffs?

Mr. Hancock: Well, Mr. Speaker, first of all, we have not aban­doned our commitment. In fact, we're fulfilling our commitment. We fulfilled our commitment to the 5.99 per cent increase after we went through the arbitration process. That's been done. What we haven't done is put in a 3 per cent increase for salaries this year, the September 1 adjustment. What I've said to the school boards is that we need to work that out over a longer period of time and they should work with me, the school boards and the ATA, with respect to how we go into a longer term agreement.

In the meantime I've asked them to consider not laying off staff at the classroom level, the teachers and the support for the class­rooms, and to manage it over a longer period of time.

Mr. Chase: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. You can't extend a five-year contracted agreement and pay people gradually.

How can the minister continue to advocate for student-punishing Band-Aid solutions such as boards running temporary deficits or drawing on small reserves when the real problem is an ongoing funding shortfall from this province?

Mr. Hancock: Mr. Speaker, there's $340 million of operating reserves in this province among school boards. Not every school board has them, but across the system we have a very healthy financial statement. What I've said to school boards is that we need to draw on those surpluses or perhaps run a short-term deficit in order to help us work on a longer term agreement to deal with not just salaries but also other areas to make sure that the education system is strong for teachers, for the profession, for the school boards, and for the province.

Mr. Chase: Thank you. Clawing back committed surpluses seems to be the new raison d'être of this government.

Given that school boards in Medicine Hat are considering eliminating full-day kindergarten programs to cover their shortfall, will the minister admit that by not honouring the teachers' wage agreement, this government is pushing Alberta even further away from meeting the recommendations of the Learning Commission and doing nothing to reduce our one-third dropout high school rate?

Mr. Hancock: No, Mr. Speaker, I won't admit that at all. Again, for the benefit of this member and for the benefit of anybody on school boards that hasn't heard me say it before, I'll say it again: we need a longer term approach. We're working on that longer term approach. That longer term approach will deal not just with salaries for teachers but also professional development and curriculum and other things that are in the best interest of students, in the interest of teachers as a profession, in the interest of school boards, and in the interest of the province. We'll be working on that over a longer term, and in the short term we're asking them to draw on their very healthy reserves.