Ontario government, French teachers reach tentative deal

The province has reached another tentative deal with teachers - this time with the union representing Ontario's 12,000 French-board educators.

News of the agreement came Tuesday, a few hours after Premier Doug Ford and Education Minister Stephen Lecce announced that schools will remain shuttered until at least May 4 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

On March 20, the province announced it had hammered out a tentative contract with the 83,000-member Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario - which represents teachers and early-childhood educators in some boards - and, prior to that, a deal with the Ontario English Catholic Teachers' Association.

The only teacher union left without a deal is the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation, which has yet to be called back to the negotiating table by the provincial mediator.

Both the Catholic and elementary teacher unions are holding ratification votes in the coming weeks.

Details of the three-year deal with the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario, obtained by the Star, include a one per cent wage boost and four per cent benefits increase annually, as well as just over $89 million in additional funding for special education supports, including 434 additional jobs.

The government committed to full-day kindergarten - with a full-time teacher and full-time early childhood educator - and also that class sizes would remain as is, which is almost an average of one student bigger than last year's classes from grades 4 to 8. The primary grade class sizes remain unchanged.

Unlike the Catholic teachers, the elementary teachers were unable to come to an agreement with the province and school boards on a controversial hiring regulation that gives the longest-serving supply teachers preference when applying for long-term and new, full-time positions.

The elementary union told members in a memo that because references to Regulation 274 aren't in the new contract, the government can unilaterally change the rules - but said if that happens, the union "will consult with legal counsel regarding options."

The Catholic teachers agreed to exempt roughly one-third of new hires from the regulation.

Lecce had previously said he wanted boards to be able to hire the best fit for a position, not the person with the most seniority on the supply list.

Kristin Rushowy is a Toronto-based reporter covering Ontario politics. Follow her on Twitter: @krushowy