The NOW Group

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Every student is unique. Underfunding education impacts them all.

With kids back in school, the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation is launching a new province-wide ad campaign to raise awareness of how cuts to public education are impacting students. And teachers are helping to share the message and amplify the campaign.

From rural communities to urban centres, kids bring unique strengths—and unique challenges—to school. And meeting their needs is more complicated than ever.

Parents and teachers are working to help kids achieve success. But cuts to public education are impacting every student, making it harder to deliver the supports they need to thrive.

At the heart of the STF’s campaign is a new ad, Different but the Same, which tells the story of students coming to school from every corner of the province—and the supports they need when they get there.

Beautiful visuals show kids heading to school—biking on gravel driveways, lugging musical instruments, bounding along sidewalks, and getting dropped off by their parents. And it delivers the message that, even though students come from different places, when they get to school, they all need the right supports in their classrooms.

To help spread the message of the campaign, the STF did something unique: they brought together leaders from across the organization to learn about how to tell stories and use a message to connect with the public and with members. Sharing the stories of the hard work that STF members are doing, under extraordinary circumstances, to meet students’ needs helps to reinforce the STF’s call for investments in classrooms.

And that call is more important than ever.

Today, cuts to public schools are hurting students across Saskatchewan. In March, the provincial government’s budget failed to provide enough funding to support existing resources in schools.

Now, despite increases in enrolment this fall, there are over 540 fewer teachers inside Saskatchewan’s classrooms. That means less one-on-one time for students, less help with speech language challenges, and fewer mental health supports to meet kids’ complex needs.

Teachers and parents know the solutions that our kids’ schools need. It’s time for the Government of Saskatchewan to stop the cuts to public education—and fund the supports that every student needs.

The STF’s new campaign is running province-wide on TV and digital platforms this fall.