Despite a majority of boards and union locals signing off on the proposed deal, dissent from the Calgary Board of Education and two local unions have forced the government to resort to legislation.

The decision came on Monday afternoon, after the 3 p.m. deadline to accept the proposed deal.

Education Minister Jeff Johnson, when he made the deal in March, said that it needed unanimous support by all 62 Alberta School Districts and Unions.

The deal calls for a three year pay freeze and two percent increase in 2015, along with a one percent bonus in the fourth year.

The Calgary Board of Education rejected the deal, with only one vote out of five in favour of the agreement.

Pat Cochrane, chair of the CBE, says that a lot of the content in the agreement remains unclear.

“We’ve asked a lot of questions. We’ve had some responses, but not all.”

Now, Johnson says he is forced to legislate the deal.

He says that while it isn't the ideal situation, they have 97 percent support on the deal , so they feel comfortable bringing the framework forward in legislature this week.

"There is going to be some grumbling, but it's the right thing to do and it's time to put it in place and move on," he said on Tuesday morning.

Johnson says that there has been a real solid effort over the past three years to reach a negotiated settlement.

"What's happened is we've gone out to every ATA local and we've gone out to all the school boards, and the boards have done a lot of work on this, and we did want to hear from everyone."

He says that they are going forward with the deal and supporting the groups that want to push the deal forward.

"We're giving them a vehicle to succeed. At the end of the day, I think all the parents, students, and teachers can breathe easy because we'll have stability again for the next four years and that's good for everybody."

Legislation was just one of the routes Johnson could have taken. The CBE says he could have amalgamated the school boards or fired the trustees if he didn’t get support.

The CBE says they will have no choice but to abide by the legislation.

“That’s perfectly within his mandate,” Cochrane says. “We are exercising our democratic franchise on behalf of our kids, our students, and our school district. That’s what we’re doing. If there are consequences, we will deal with those.”

Teachers have been without a contract since last August.