Who We Are

The British Columbia Public School Employers' Association (BCPSEA) is the employers' association for all 60 public school boards, including the Conseil scolaire francophone de la Colombie-Britannique (CSF).

Representatives from the 60 school boards elect nine school trustees to the Board of Directors including the Chair and the Vice-Chair; they are joined by four government representatives and a non-voting representative each from the BC School Superintendents' Association and the BC School District Secretary-Treasurers' Association.

The Chair of BCPSEA is Ron Christensen from School District No. 6 (Rocky Mountain). Hugh Finlayson is the association's chief executive officer. As the employers' association, we have responsibility for:

  1. Determining collective bargaining objectives for the public education sector.
  2. Negotiating provincially with the British Columbia Teachers' Federation (the teachers' union) for a provincial teachers' collective agreement covering the 60 public school boards and their employees, for coordinating local bargaining between the school boards and their local teachers' associations.
  3. In our capacity as the accredited bargaining agent for all 60 school boards, we provide assistance, resources and coordination for support staff collective bargaining. While bargaining is done at the local school board level, approval of the negotiated compensation provisions is required by our association.
  4. Providing labour relations advice and services to school boards, including contract interpretation and grievance/arbitration case management.
  5. Coordinating compensation for employees who are not subject to collective agreements; in most cases, these are the administrative and management staff in school districts.
  6. Coordinating benefits administration among the various school districts in order to maximize coverage in the most cost-effective manner.
  7. Promoting effective and cooperative human resources practices in the public school system that contribute to the betterment of public education.

As a way of facilitating these responsibilities, BCPSEA (along with the other employers' associations in the public sector) is a member of the Public Sector Employers' Council (PSEC), established by the provincial government to provide a link between the government and public sector bodies on compensation and other human resource management issues.

BCPSEA is governed jointly by public school boards and the provincial government. In 2003, the government agreed to pay the school boards’ portion of BCPSEA membership fees.