TORONTO – The Ontario Ministry of Education is offering to decrease its proposed maximum class size in high schools, shift funding options, keep full-day kindergarten and offer what it calls “reasonable” increases to wages and compensation in an effort to end the ongoing education strikes.
On March 3 a press release from minister Stephen Lecce announced the focus of the most recent proposal for all teacher unions includes:
– commitment to funding maximum average class size of 23 in secondary schools;
– replace the previous Local Priorities Fund with a new, student-centric Supports for Students Fund, which allows boards more flexibility to address students’ unique learning needs, including special education, mental health, and STEM education;
– the Supports for Students Fund would continue at the same funding amount of the Local Priorities Fund;
– a commitment to keep full-day kindergarten; and
– “reasonable” increases in wages and compensation.
The government also said it would give parents the ability to opt their kids out of the mandatory online courses required for graduation.
“The time to end this is now,” Lecce said. “Parents are frustrated, students are losing educational days, and teachers are uncertain about their future.
“I am asking the teachers’ unions to return to the table, in light of this reasonable offer, to reach the agreement parents want, and students deserve.”
In a March 3 press release the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association (OECTA) president Liz Stuart wrote that the union’s priority has always been to negotiate a fair agreement at the bargaining table.
OECTA representatives said they would be willing to resume negotiations on March 4 and continue to bargain on March 5 and 6. As of press time, the government had not announced a reaction to the the union’s offer to negotiate.
“Catholic teachers are fed up with this government’s games and spin,” Stuart said. “While our preference has always been to keep details of negotiations at the bargaining table, the repeated misrepresentations by Premier (Doug) Ford … Lecce, and other members of this government are undermining the bargaining process.
“It is time to set the record straight.”
She said the pathway to a deal has been clear for months.
“While we strongly object to their unconstitutional wage restraint legislation, and retain our fundamental right to challenge it through the courts, we are prepared to accept the salary they have offered at the bargaining table, in order to bring stability and certainty into our schools for our students and parents,” Stuart said.
“Furthermore, we will work within the funding amount for health benefits the government has proposed at our table as recently as last week.”
She called on the government to put the money back into the classroom.
“In short, the government must reverse their cuts to publicly funded education, and restore teacher staffing to the same level as in 2018-19,” Stuart said.
Lecce said the March 3 proposal does reflect the priorities of students and parents, maintains class size, invests in students’ unique learning needs and reflects fair increases to wages and compensation.
“If the unions reject this most recent, student-centric offer, parents should rightly be asking what exactly are the priorities of the unions,” Lecce said.
The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) and the Ontario Secondary School Teachers Association (OSSTF) had not made statements by press time on the government’s offer.
