One day after complaining about a lack of progress in contract negotiations, one of the largest teachers' unions in Quebec warned the government about the impact of budget cuts.
The CSQ says budget cuts have left school boards without the resources needed to ensure quality education.
When budget cuts were announced last year education minister Francois Blais said cutting administrative staff should have no effect on students.
Now unions say that school boards have been cutting teachers and support staff that they believe are essential to helping students in difficulty.
"For a lot of years we've been asking the governments to come and sit down with us to see and hear, even to come in our schools to see what's going on, so they can notice by themselves what's really going on in our schools," said Melanie Renaud, the VP of Support Staff for the CSQ union.
"You can't just say we're going to cut budgets in our schools and be in Quebec City or in Montreal and not being part of what's going on."
Renaud said one board has cut 41 specialists and teachers' aides, which will hurt students with special needs.
Teachers and school staff say they are now at the point they don't know how to prepare for the coming year.
The Ministry of Education is not commenting while contract negotiations continue.
