Merit-based hiring for teachers is smart, but Lecce must end the unions’ monopoly
Thursday, Oct. 29, 2020
Toronto, ON: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation supports the Ontario government’s move to officially revoke Regulation 274 effective today and is now calling on the on Education Minister Stephen Lecce to end the teachers’ unions’ monopoly.
“While we applaud merit-based hiring for teachers as a smart policy move, Education Minister Stephen Lecce must get to the root of the problem with Ontario’s public education system and end the teachers’ unions’ monopoly which causes costs to go up and quality to go down,” said Jasmine Moulton, Ontario Director for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. “Fixing flawed hiring practices is a step in the right direction, but it’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the problems associated with the teachers’ unions’ monopoly.”
Regulation 274 was a policy introduced by the Liberal government nearly a decade ago that required teachers to be hired based on seniority, not merit. The government announced that the regulation will be officially revoked as of today, October 29th.
In a recent op-ed to the Toronto sun, Ontario Education Minister Stephen Lecce said that revoking regulation 274 is “about protecting the quality of learning and putting students first.”
But a report from the Fraser Institute shows student test scores have declined in Ontario as public education funding has increased. The majority of increases to education funding go into compensation.
The average unionized secondary school teacher in Ontario’s public system now earns a total annual compensation of $114,157 according to a freedom of information response from the Ministry of Education to the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. The compensation was broken down as follows:
- Salary: $92,912
- Statutory and other benefits: $9,700
- Life, health, dental benefits: $1,314
- Employer pension contributions: $10,231
Top earning teachers in Ontario earned a total compensation of $120,097 in 2018. In 2019, the province’s sunshine list contained the names of nearly 15,000 teachers in Ontario.
In its pre-budget submission, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation calls on the Ontario government to introduce charter school legislation in Ontario which would allow for non-unionized teachers to teach in publicly-funded schools in Ontario. A study analysing charter schools in Alberta found that the province saved money while improving student test scores.
Charter schools are autonomous, government-funded, non-profit, non-religious public schools which charge no tuition.
“The best thing Minister Lecce could do for public school students in Ontario would be to end the current teachers’ unions’ monopoly over public education by introducing charter school legislation,” said Moulton.
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