Image: CUPE 728

By Joonha 'Jonah' Jung - BCIT Journalism student

Rally for education

Surrey teachers, support workers rally for more provincial funding

Jan 14, 2026 | 9:37 AM

SURREY — The Surrey Teachers Association and CUPE 728 protested at a “Red for Ed” rally in front of Surrey-Guildford MLA Gary Begg’s office this past Monday to demand more provincial funding for educational assistants and counsellors.

Violette Baillargeon, the association’s second vice president, said that more mental health support for students with diverse needs is necessary.

“We want to bring attention to the fact that this government promised to have one counsellor per school, and we haven’t seen them make good on that promise,” said Baillargeon, a teacher of 24 years at schools including Surrey’s Johnston Heights and Sullivan Heights.

Surrey teachers say more funding from the province is needed as staff are being overworked and students are facing learning difficulties. One of the BC NDP’s election promises in 2024 was to hire more EAs and counsellors in schools.

In April 2025, the Surrey School District cut 50 educational assistant jobs by attrition, sparking concerns from CUPE 728, which represents educational assistants and childcare workers.

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EAs, also known as inclusive education support workers, help students with diverse needs and aid the teachers in schools.

Image: CUPE 728

Premier David Eby had promised to put one educational assistant in every kindergarten to Grade 3 classroom back in 2024, along with affordable school care and a mental health counsellor in every school.

“That’s where those supports are most critical because a lot of kids actually enter the education system without having been designated yet,” said Baillargeon.

She said having more adults in the classroom will make it easier to “target exactly who needs the help and what kind of help they need.”

“Our education system needs support,” said Jatinder Bir, a member of the teachers’ association. “It needs help from this government. Our students deserve better. They need better support.”

Tammy Murphy, the president of CUPE 728, who has been an EA for two decades, said overcrowding in schools has been an issue for years.

In the 2024-2025 school year, Surrey schools saw a slight decrease in enrolment for the first time in two decades. Despite the decrease in enrolment, Murphy said “the enrollment of children with diverse needs went up by 375.”

She said more funding for EAs and counsellors will benefit the students since students cannot get an equal amount of support during classes.

“The staff has to triage who they’re working with at what time, what student needs it. And while we’re focusing on a student that requires all the support over here, we’re leaving out three or four students that are over there.”

Despite more schools being built in Surrey, Murphy said it’s not happening quickly enough, with constant shortages of staff and teachers.

“It’s so hard to do your job when you have a classroom of 30 kids, then it’s more like you have 40 kids because you have so many different behaviours and things going on,” Murphy added.

“Teachers care so much, the quality of care goes down because you can’t do it, because you can’t give that attention that Johnny needs in the corner.”

BCIT News reached out to B.C.’s Ministry of Education and Childcare for a response to the teachers’ and support workers’ demands, but did not receive one by the deadline.

After the article was published, the ministry sent an emailed statement to BCIT News. It said the Surrey School Board is responsible for staffing decisions and education programming.

B.C.’s Ministry of Education and Childcare said it is working with the education partners and the unions to recruit more K-12 teachers to address overcrowded classrooms. The province invested $3 million in initiatives this school year while recruiting more teachers in rural communities.

The plan also includes more investment in teacher education programs, the creation of a mentorship program with UBC to support teachers’ professional growth, and bringing in more internationally-trained educators.

The Ministry of Infrastructure said more than $1 billion has been invested in building schools in Surrey since 2017, with 10,465 of these seats out of 16,000 being open.

The province said there have been 2,300 new seats for students for the past year, with a major expansion of 1,000 new seats at Clayton Heights Secondary.