The Ontario government is making some concessions on class sizes and e-learning in an attempt to end labour disputes with teachers' unions.
During a news conference Tuesday, Education Minister Stephen Lecce said that the government will continue to fund secondary school classrooms at an average of 23 students. This year the average is 22.9. Lecce would not commit to any caps publically as he said that language will be decided at the bargaining table.
Lecce announced the government is also making concessions on mandatory e-learning credits. He said the government will give parents the opportunity to opt their children out of the e-learning classes if they believe that is what is best for the student.
The government has also committed to maintaining full-day kindergarten for the length of the collective agreement and will maintain class sizes at the elementary level of 24.5 students.
All four major teachers' unions have been involved in strike action over the last several months. The Ontario English Catholic Teachers' Association and the union representing French language teachers, Association des enseignantes et des enseignants franco-ontariens AEFO, have scheduled a province-wide strike on Thursday, March 5, 2020.
OECTA issued a statement prior to the news conference held by Lecce that said it has indicated to the provincial mediator it is prepared to return to the bargaining table Wednesday.
"Since well before Christmas, the OECTA Provincial Bargaining Team has informed the government that 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. Furthermore, we will work within the funding amount for health benefits the government has proposed at our table as recently as last week," said Liz Stuart, president of OECTA in an emailed statement.
The PC government issued a statement Tuesday afternoon calling on the unions to cancel future strikes to allow for good faith bargaining.
"The time to end this is now. Parents are frustrated, students are losing educational days, and teachers are uncertain about their future," said Lecce in the statement. "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."
No talks have been officially scheduled at this time, but following the news conference, the Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation tweeted it is ready to go back to the bargaining table.
"This is a balanced plan that reflects the priorities of students and parents, maintaining class sizes, investing in students' unique learning needs, and holds the line on the reasonable increase in wages and compensation we are offering," said Lecce. "If the unions reject this most recent, student-centric offer, parents should rightly be asking what exactly are the priorities of the unions."
The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) also responded to Lecce's announcement and said the minister's statements were made outside of the collective bargaining process.
“ETFO does not bargain in the media and we have not seen details of the minister’s proposals at the central bargaining table,” said ETFO President Sam Hammond in a statement. “We have learned from past experience that Minister Lecce’s public announcements do not necessarily translate into negotiating proposals at the table.”
Hammond said while the minister made mention of one special education fund, there is a second fund that was not addressed. He said if the second fund is not maintained, "special education funding is still down by about $25 million."