The B.C. government says it will provide the Burnaby School District with $9.77 million to support retroactive pay for education professionals.

This comes after an arbitrator ruled earlier this month that the school district had to provide $9.4 million in backpay for new teachers who started their careers anytime after July 1, 2022.

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Minister of Education and Child Care Lisa Beare says the government has been working with the school board and district officials to address the issue.

“The final figures to inform a funding request were provided by the school district to government on Friday, April 17,” Beare said.

“Staff have worked hard to expedite this funding request through government processes to be able to provide certainty to the school district during their budgeting cycle. When it comes to public dollars, it’s incredibly important that we always follow a comprehensive and rigorous assessment process.”

The Burnaby School Board has said it believes the costs should have been fully funded at the time of the teachers’ 2022 collective agreement.

At the time of the arbitrator’s ruling, Burnaby Board of Education Chair Kristin Schnider said the ruling had the potential to “devastate delivery of education across Burnaby Schools,” given the amount was more than double the $4.2 million in cuts that were made for the 2025-26 budget year.

The decision affects more than 800 teachers who were in their first year of teaching in the district and found they should have been paid at least one step higher in the pay grade than they were.

— With files from Raynee Novak