It is still not enough; reduction in class size not enough to appease teachers unions

BY PAUL JUNOR

On Thursday afternoon the Minister of Education Stephen Leece made an announcement that the PC-led government is willing to fund the average class size of 25 instead of 28 as was proposed. The increase of class sizes from the average of 22 for high school has not been well received by teachers unions. In his announcement, the Minister mentioned that this reduction is intended to show that the government is willing to avert a possible strike and ensure that teachers remain in class. The fact is that even with the change from 28 to 25, there still will be the loss of thousands of teaching jobs.

As reported in the Tuesday, October 29^th Toronto Star, hundreds of high school teachers have already lost their full-time jobs. This has caused significant hardships and difficulties for these laid off teachers. According to the Ontario Secondary School Teacher’s Federation (OSSTF), there have been 266 full-time positions that have been eliminated from 10 boards. There are still many teachers who will be let go, as there are still many boards, still in the process of obtaining the exact numbers. Many of these teachers who were laid off have had to resort to supply teaching to make ends meet and may eventually have to be let go permanently. In the Toronto District School Board (TDSB), there are now about 80 laid off teachers who have been able to obtain short-term supply teaching positions.

There is no doubt that the provincial government is bent on reducing spending on public education. According to the Minster of Education (as reported in the Toronto Star), $24 billion is being spent currently, and there is increased spending on: special education, mental health, transportation and First Nation education. In addition, money is being spent on building and fixing schools. On Monday, October 28^th, Premier Ford stated that, “With the infusion of $700 million into education, his government has spent more money than any government in the history of Ontario.” There is a $1.6 billion attrition fund that is intended to avert the loss of teaching positions, but will this cover Ontario’s losses.

The Minister of Education did not change the planned increase in class size in Grades 4-8 from 23.5 to 24.5. This clearly has an adverse impact, and negative effect on elementary teachers. It has been reported that as a result of the strike vote by 83,000 strong members of the elementary teacher’s union, ETFO shows that 98% voted in favour of a strike in the event that outstanding issues are not resolved. According to President, Sam Hanmond, “It is a historic strike vote for ETFO as the largest union in Canada.” The Minister of Education responded and stated, “While our government has been reasonable and the constructive force at the bargaining table focused on keeping kids in class, today ETFO has taken another step towards a strike which will disproportionately hurt our kids.”

OSSTF will be conducting a strike vote, which it expects to be completed by November 15th. There is an informational meeting scheduled for Monday, November 4^th. In an update to its members, OSSTF stated that “The government plans to ultimately remove 10,000 teachers from the system, not to mention thousands of support staff positions. This represents the greatest threat to public education.” At the end of all of this, what does this mean for our community? What does this mean for parents? What does it mean for our children?