Ontario's education minister says no decisions have yet been made as the government considers removing class size caps in kindergarten and primary grades.
Lisa Thompson says in a tweet that she looks forward to the education sector sharing their perspectives to ensure tax dollars have the greatest impact in the classroom.
Currently, the kindergarten class size cap is 29 students, and the average of class sizes across any board can't be more than 26.
For the primary grades the cap is 23 students, but at least 90 per cent of classes in any board must have 20 or fewer students.
A government consultation document poses questions such as whether hard caps on class sizes should continue, and if they were removed, what would be an appropriate way to set effective class sizes.
Sam Hammond, the president of the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario, says government officials told him in a meeting that they need to work toward balancing the budget and some decisions will affect public education.
The Tories are in the midst of trying to trim a deficit they peg at $14.5 billion — though the financial accountability officer says it’s closer to $12 billion.
Hammond thinks Wednesday’s meeting and consultation is a harbinger of both what’s to come in the budget for education, and negotiations that are to start this year ahead of teacher contracts expiring in August.
The previous Liberal government negotiated the last round of teacher and education worker contracts as two-year extensions to existing deals, which ensured they wouldn’t have to contend with heated teacher bargaining ahead of the 2018 election.
That deal for elementary teachers came with $56 million to hire teachers and early childhood educators so the current kindergarten cap could be implemented.
Under the existing contracts, high school, elementary, English Catholic and French teachers, as well as support staff, got four per cent salary increases over the two years.
They also got a one-time payment for professional development, supplies and equipment equivalent to a 0.5-per-cent salary increase.