The head of the Alberta teachers union said Monday the provincewide strike by thousands of members is about drawing a line in the sand on underfunding and overcrowding that has become so egregious kids can’t learn.

Premier Danielle Smith said the government has asked the union to call off the strike and get back to the bargaining table.

Jason Schilling, president of the Alberta Teachers’ Association, told a news conference in Edmonton that schools are in crisis.

“This strike is not just about us. It’s for the students who can’t get the education they deserve because of class sizes and lack of resources for complexity.“

Schilling said Alberta has the lowest per-student funding in Canada, calling it a key driver in the labour dispute. “You can’t keep underfunding the system year after year after year and think that people are going to be OK with it.“

The Teachers’ Employer Bargaining Association, which represents school boards and the provincial government in collective bargaining, issued a lockout notice to the union on Monday.

The lockout will begin on Thursday at 1 p.m., chair Scott McCormack said in a statement.

“We saw earlier this year with rotating strikes by educational assistants the tremendous uncertainty it created for school divisions, parents and students who were given very short notice about where strike activity would be taking place,” McCormack said.

“The lockout will provide predictability and stability for students.“

The union said the lockout was expected because it was a response to teachers going on strike.

“The Alberta Teachers’ Association and government officials remain in talks,” Schilling said in a news release responding to the lockout notice.

Earlier Monday, the 51,000 members of the union started the strike as promised to back demands for a better contract offer.

The labour action affects more than 700,000 students across 2,500 public, separate and francophone schools.

Schools are shut down, but teachers are not preparing to walk picket lines in front of them. The union has said there will be more rallies like ones in Edmonton and Calgary on the weekend that attracted thousands.

Christine Hauck, an elementary school teacher in Wetaskiwin, south of Edmonton, said the beginning of the strike was anticlimactic.

“It’s such a trip not going to work today,” she said. “I’m kind of twiddling my thumbs.

“I was actually thinking about doing some schoolwork just to feel normal.”

For her school division, Hauck said, one of the most pressing issues is classroom complexity and students who need support that she alone can’t provide.

“I’ve got a really complex class with a lot of needs,” said the Grade 4 teacher. “They’re lovely children — I love them to death — it’s a lot, though, without any kind of other adults in the room.”

Smith, speaking to reporters at an unrelated event in Montreal, said the government is ready to get a deal done when teachers are.

“We are always ready to go back to the bargaining table,” Smith said.

“They were the ones who have unfortunately made the decision to walk off the job.”

Smith said they expect classroom complexities will be the focus of future talks.

“We think our wage offer is very fair. We put 3,000 new teachers on the table for hire over the next three years (and) 1,500 education assistants,“ she said.

The 3,000 extra teachers were part of an offer rejected overwhelmingly by union members a week ago, setting the stage for the walkout. It also offered a 12-per-cent pay raise over four years and money to cover the cost of a COVID-19 vaccine.

Schilling has said that offer was a drop in the bucket compared to what’s needed, noting the province needs to hire at least 5,000 more instructors to align with student-teacher ratios.

When asked why the government isn’t putting ratios or class caps on the table, the premier has said the province is constrained by space but has allocated $8.6 billion to create more than 100 new and updated schools.

Schilling said that sounds like an excuse. “We’re supposed to teach our classes in overcrowded spaces because the government failed to plan.“

Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides urged the union on Monday to come back to the table with a “clear and fair” proposal.

“Parents and families won’t be left in the dark,” Nicolaides said in a statement on social media. “We’re offering support to help kids keep learning and help parents cover unexpected costs.”

Parents with children 12 and under are eligible for $30 a day from the province to cover child-care costs during the strike, with funds to be distributed starting Oct. 31.

The province has also made online the kindergarten to Grade 12 curriculum, urging parents to teach their kids at home if they wish.

Parents have been scrambling to make child-care arrangements.

Chantelle Bornn, whose daughter attends elementary school in Red Deer, said her family is in a luckier position than most as both she and her husband are self-employed.

Bornn, a bookkeeper, said she closed her office space Friday to work from home full time.

For now, she said, the goal is to keep her daughter’s mind in learning mode, whether it’s with trips to the library or a local nature centre.

“People are going to have to really juggle the work and prioritize it and figure out how we can all limp our way through this.”

Bornn said she bought a curriculum workbook online for her daughter and the school has some online learning material, but she doesn’t feel comfortable using the “tool kits” the government has made available during the strike.

The kits make her feel like she’s being asked to break the strike, she said.

“It felt like an undermining to the public school system.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 6, 2025.

With files from Lisa Johnson in Edmonton and Morgan Lowrie in Montreal