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CUPE Nova Scotia President Danny Cavanagh says major job cuts announced at the Halifax, Chignecto Central and Annapolis Valley school boards this week will have a direct affect on classrooms and students.

Says Cavanagh, “These dramatic job cuts should be reason enough to conduct a comprehensive review of our province’s P-12 education system. At the risk of stating the obvious, the current funding formula simply is not working.

This is the second year in a row of cuts to Nova Scotia school boards and the boards have also been told they must absorb inflation costs - another 3 per cent - and any wage increases. The provincial government is talking about ‘getting back to balance - but at what cost,” asks Cavanagh.

Says Cavanagh, “I would urge parents who believe these school board cuts are going too far to call their MLA and tell them balancing the budget at the expense of our schools is a bad idea.”

Meanwhile, CUPE School Board Co-ordinator Kathy MacLeod says, “Every single one of these cuts is a blow to the system. 

From the bus driver who gets the children to and from school safely, to the teaching assistants who work in the classrooms with special needs students, the secretary at the front desk, the cleaners and custodians who keep the schools safe and clean, the library staff, and all the rest of the education team, every one of them plays a vital role in the system,” she says.