Teachers, Kathleen Wynne at odds over funding

Education minister says she can't commit to closing the $711 gap between elementary, high school students

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Louise Brown

Ontario's school boards say they face labour "limbo" this fall after Education Minister Kathleen Wynne failed today to pledge the funding for grade schools that would have brought elementary teachers back to the bargaining table.

In a speech this morning to the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario (ETFO) annual meeting, Wynne refused the union's call to pledge an extra $711 for every elementary student to match the amount Queen's Park gives each high school student — a move the union says is essential if it is to return to labour talks with the province.

Although Wynne's government has reduced that gap by about 40 per cent since taking office and the minister promised today to keep closing that gap indirectly with funding for smaller classes, more preparation time, less hall supervision and a 3 per cent raise for each of the next four years — all terms embraced already in agreements with almost every other teachers' union — federation president David Clegg said he did not hear a clear enough promise from Wynne to warrant a return to the table.

"What I heard was a mixed message — we do believe there is a relationship of respect between this government and teachers, but we did not hear the commitment today to eliminate that funding gap, and that's what we were waiting for," said Clegg, after a question-and-answer session in which many of the 600 teachers at the federations annual meeting stood to cheer the union's demand to close the gap.

"We will not sign a long-term agreement that does not eliminate that gap."

Despite a speech in which Wynne cited the improved relations between the provincial government and teachers' unions since the McGuinty Liberals took office in 2003 — a speech that drew several bursts of supportive applause — a number of teachers in the Westin Harbour Castle Convention Centre ballroom rose during the question-and-answer period to try to get the minister to commit to wiping out the gap by a certain date.

Wynne refused.

Such a standoff puts school boards "in limbo" when it comes to labour peace, said Rick Johnson, past president of the Ontario Public School Boards' Association, which had been taking part in provincial labour consultations since February with the province and union until the elementary union walked out in May.

While the elementary union's funding demands have been estimated to cost taxpayers $890 million, Johnson said it could grow to $1.4 billion if teachers at Catholic and French school boards demanded the same benefits.

"Kids should not be held up for ransom by anyone, and if we don't see a resolution to this situation, programs are going to start being affected, parents are going to get angry and then there goes the public confidence in education that we've worked to rebuild in the last few years," said Johnson.

"I'm really afraid this situation could blow that public confidence out of the water."

While federation president David Clegg said there are no plans to return to the table, he did say he would seek to clarify how far Wynne's government is prepared to go to reduce the gap and said he did not expect any interruption in classrooms before the new year.

Teachers at French and Catholic school boards have signed a basic four-year "framework agreement" with the province that would grant them a 3 per cent raise for each of the next four years, raise the number of minutes of "preparation time" each week to 240 from the current 200 — which Wynne said could create 1,500 more jobs if public elementary schools agreed — plus a 3.5 per cent raise for supply teachers, more money for professional development, smaller classes for grades 4 through 8, more funding for specialist teachers, more litreracy help for junior high school students and a reduction in the amount of time elementary teachers are required to supervise children outside class.

However, government policy spells out that any federation that does not sign this agreement will face a two-year contract instead with only a 2 per cent raise each year.

Wynne noted her government is boosting funding despite school enrolment dropping by 68,000 students over the past five years and a more troubled provincial economy in recent months.

Said Johnson: "I live near Oshawa and a lot of my neighbours just signed a contract with General Motors with zero per cent raise - so it's awkward for us to explain why teachers won't sign a contract that gives 3 per cent (a year) over four years."

All collective agreements for Ontario's 73,000 elementary public school teachers expire on Aug. 31.