After meeting with provincial education minister Gord Wyant on Thursday, Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation (STF) President Patrick Maze feels that the two parties are “not even close” to reaching a deal.

During the meeting, Wyant told Maze that the government is willing to put forward “additional resources” to help compensate classrooms properly.

‘What they brought forward was really insignificant, and was a non-starter for us,” said Maze. “It really brought us no further to any kind of agreement. It basically was insufficient and wasn’t overly helpful in moving this process forward.”

Wyant says that the money they proposed would be provided through the budget expected on March 18. He would not share the value of the money.

Maze says that the government needs to look at covering more than just the current needs of schools.

“We’ve got significant problems right across the province in our classrooms where student supports are lacking due to the government chronically under funding over the last several years,” said Maze. “We’re not even trying to fund the system for excellence, which we should be, we’re just asking government to fund it just to bring it back to the status quo.”

Maze said that issues are province-wide not just in certain areas, with almost every school division running a deficit last year.

Maze is not shutting the door to future dialogue, but he is hoping the stalemate will be resolved sooner than later. He added that waiting until the end of the current school year may be too late.

The STF recently saw a sanction vote of over 90 percent, meaning that all options, including job action, are on the table.

With a potential early election on the horizon, Maze wouldn’t say whether or not teachers would go on strike during the campaign.