Question: What is this “cabinet committee” that the government has established, and why is the Association participating on it?
Answer: The Class Size and Complexity Cabinet Committee was established by Premier Danielle Smith shortly after the government passed Bill 2, the Back to School Act, which ended the teachers’ strike by unilaterally imposing a settlement on the province’s teachers. The cabinet committee is mandated to address critical challenges in public schools, including overcrowded classrooms, increasing student needs (like English Language Learners) and lack of adequate support for inclusion.
The cabinet committee has as its voting members the premier, who is also its chair, and four ministers holding relevant portfolios:
- Demetrios Nicolaides, minister of Education and Childcare
- Jason Nixon, minister of Assisted Living and Social Services
- Rick Wilson, minister of Mental Health and Addiction
- Searle Turton, minister of Child and Family Services
In addition, representatives of various interested groups sit as nonvoting members:
- Elissa Corsi, Alberta Teachers’ Association
- Lynnette Anderson, chief superintendent, Edmonton Catholic Schools
- Nicole Buchanan, chair, Red Deer Public Schools
- Marilyn Dennis, former president, Alberta School Boards Association
- Mike McMann, superintendent, Fort Vermilion Schools and president, College of Alberta School Superintendents
- Joanne Pitman, chief superintendent, Calgary Board of Education
- Kevin Van Lagen, principal, Prairie Land School Division (named to the committee January 5, 2026)
- Tamara Korolis, teacher, Calgary Board of Education (named to the committee January 5, 2026)
That this committee should be established at all, that it is chaired by the premier with significant representation from cabinet and that the Association is represented is unprecedented and a win for teachers. It reflects government’s reluctant recognition of the validity of the consistent concerns that teachers have been raising through advocacy, at the bargaining table and through the course of the recent strike. While the government refused to meaningfully address teachers’ concerns about class size and complexity in a freely bargained collective agreement, it could not escape the issue and the expectation that we have raised among Albertans that these issues will be prioritized.
Because this is a cabinet committee, its deliberations are considered to be cabinet secrets and so we will not be receiving updates that can be shared with members. That said, the cabinet committee has been meeting frequently, and one immediate result has been the decision to resume collecting detailed class-size and composition data from schools across the province. You may recall that former Minister LaGrange’s ostrich-inspired approach to dealing with these issues was to attempt to make them go away by no longer aggregating relevant data.
Teachers have every right to be skeptical about any promises made by the government about improving teaching and learning conditions, but we have created a political impetus that cannot be ignored. Furthermore, the government understands that it needs the participation of the Association to provide credibility, and Elissa Corsi has been tasked with giving voice to teachers’ views and holding the cabinet committee accountable.
Ultimately, the test of the cabinet committee’s effectiveness will be its ability to drive significant improvements to teaching and learning conditions in our classrooms. We are all waiting for action.
ATA Executive Secretary
Questions for consideration in this column are welcome. Please address them to Dennis Theobald at dennis.theobald@ata.ab.ca.
