The province is considering removing class size caps for kindergarten and in grades 1 to 3.
Education Minister Lisa Thompson announced Wednesday she's is launching consultations with education partners on class sizes and teacher hiring practices.
A government consultation document poses questions such as whether hard caps on class sizes should continue, and if they were removed, what would be an appropriate way to set effective class sizes.
Currently, the kindergarten class size cap is 29 students and for the primary grades it is 23 students.
Elementary Teachers' Federation President Sam Hammond says the government warned him that it may have to make some difficult decisions as it tackles the deficit and ``there's no doubt'' some of those decisions will affect public education.
Educators have said increasing class sizes would have a detrimental effect on the learning environment.