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The truth about the “crisis” in education
The day after Labour Day, without a doubt, Ontario’s schools will be open, teachers will be teaching and kids will be learning.
There has been a lot of talk in the media in the last week about discussions between the province, teachers and school boards. In some cases the information has been misleading.
Teachers’ contracts will expire on August 31, but it is very common for bargaining to start in earnest only at the end of a contract. In these cases, everyone keeps working under the terms of the old contract, no one goes on strike, teachers (for the most part) do not get salary increases and students are not affected.
When the contracts expire, only newer teachers will receive automatic increases based on the salary grid. In Ontario, beginning teachers earn approximately $42,000 per year (compared to registered nurses or police constables who start at approximately $57,000 and $58,000 respectively) and get small increases each year for the first ten years. These teachers will continue to move “up the grid.”
Who’s the employer?
There has also been a lot of talk in the press about teachers deciding to bargain with school boards instead of the Ministry of Education. In fact, under Ontario Labour Law, school boards are teachers’ employers. Read more
What’s at stake financially?
The province has a problem – an approximately $15 billion annual deficit – and it wants to eliminate that deficit (and consequently its relatively low ratings from agencies like Standard and Poor’s) over the next five years. Freezing salaries for two years and mandating that teachers and school administrators take 3 unpaid days off will help eliminate some of the deficit in the short term.
But there is also a bookkeeping problem that makes it look as if Ontario’s deficit is higher than it really is. Some of the changes to teachers’ contracts proposed by the province would help with that. Read more
What’s at stake educationally?
Right now, because there is ostensibly no money to bargain with, the boards, the province and the teachers are left with non-financial issues to negotiate. Read more
What’s next?
There are a number of possibilities. The province could impose a legislated contract on all teachers; teachers could take the province to court; some school boards could settle with their teachers (none have so far); there could be lots more sabre rattling on all sides; any one of the parties could go to the Ontario Labour Board.
What’s important to remember is that all of those things can happen without disturbing the work that goes on in schools every day. What’s also important is that all sides remember that unlike nearly any other kind of labour negotiation, children can be affected.
But what’s most important to remember is that Ontario has a very strong education system. The province, school boards and teachers have all worked hard for the last decade to improve it.
So let’s all stay calm, enjoy the last days of summer and work as best we can to settle these differences.