[3] Bill 72 was passed at a time of significant tension between elected school board members and the Nova Scotia Teachers' Union (NSTU), and the Liberal Government of Premier Stephen McNeil.
[6] Premier McNeil rejected the NSTU's position as financially impractical, while Union President Liette Ducette cited lack of effective attendance and student discipline policies as contributing factors in the job action.
Although premier McNeil stated his confidence in its legality, in June 2022 Nova Scotia Supreme Court Justice John Keith ruled the bill was unconstitutional, its implementation "terribly wrong," and that it weakened the union's ability to be involved in classroom improvements.
[3] In April 2018 locally elected English school boards in Nova Scotia were dissolved and replaced with provincially run centres for education, and administrators were removed from the NSTU.
[16] Various factors, such as Covid-19 disruptions, contributed to a general reduction in PISA scores globally, but Nova Scotia declined more than the Canadian average, with students achieving 24 fewer points on math tests, the second greatest drop in the country.