‘Tone deaf’: Unions pan big increases for Thames Valley school board brass

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Several top brass at the Thames Valley District school board were paid 12- to a whopping 33-per-cent more in 2023 compared to the year before, a “confusing signal” to  staff as the board struggles with a deficit that may mean eliminating 124 positions, a union leader says.

“The students, who are our main focus, are not being resourced appropriately,” said Craig Smith, president of the Thames Valley district of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario. “It’s tone deaf.”

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The Thames Valley District school board doled out double-digit percentage increases to 17 of its top brass in 2023 that ranged from 12 per cent to 33 per cent for one person and included a 15 per cent increase to its education director.

Education director Mark Fisher’s total rose from $283,000 in 2022 to $326,000 in 2023, according to Ontario’s Sunshine List, the annual rundown of income and taxable benefits paid to public workers making $100,000 or more.

A Thames Valley board spokesperson said Monday there are no salary increases in 2024 and that the board is “working within the established executive compensation framework that was approved in 2018.”

Provincial regulations from 2018 prohibit base salary increases for Ontario public executives.

Earlier this year, Ontario’s highest court upheld a lower court ruling that declared the provincial government’s wage-cap law – enacted in 2019, to help whip a budget deficit – as unconstitutional.  Bill 124, as it was known, limited pay increases to one per cent a year for three years for workers in the public sector.

The court ruling found the law was unconstitutional for unionized workers, unjustifiably infringing on their bargaining rights. The government said it would both repeal the law and exempt non-unionized workers from it until the legislation is repealed.

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Some senior staff at the London District Catholic school board also saw the amounts they were paid rise by more than 10 per cent and, in some cases, by 30 per cent but that board’s smaller deficit — the result of a rapid rise in enrollment — complies with Education Ministry guidelines.

The Thames Valley board is contemplating cutting 124 jobs to reduce its projected budget deficit to $7.6 million from $18 million forecast in February.

Fifty-eight elementary and 24 secondary teaching jobs would be eliminated in the board’s preliminary $1.2-billion budget for the 2024-25 school year, a board report released earlier this month says.

Other job positions at risk include 17 early childhood educator positions, as well as jobs in speech and psychological services.

“It reveals the priorities of an organization that is intent on compensating its senior leadership at the expense of the workers who do what the organization is supposed to do,” Smith said.

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Last week Thames Valley associate director Linda Nicholls said no one would lose their jobs if the cuts are approved. Employees would be redeployed to fill vacant positions and those created by attrition.

The board plans to reduce its special education budget by almost $1 million by using tablets instead of laptops and cutting spending on security by $300,000, the report says.

One million dollars earmarked for school field trips was also cut in half, the report says.

Other categories targeted for reductions include school budgets, printing and photocopying, textbooks and learning materials, as well as $2 million in cuts to instructional supplies.

Fisher told trustees at a committee meeting June 11 that board officials are investigating the idea of closing schools to raise funds with the Education Ministry, despite a moratorium on closing Ontario schools.

“The ministry has indicated a willingness to consider this option if the community is supportive of that decision,” he said.

The school board says its deficit is being driven in part by a 13 per cent increase in mental health leaves for teachers, education assistants and early childhood educators since the COVID-19 pandemic began and $1.6 million in employment insurance and Canada Pension Plan expenses due to rate and projected rate changes between 2024 and 2025.

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Mary Henry, president of CUPE Local 4222 that represents 1,600 board employees including secretaries and early childhood educators, said her members see the board’s deficit plan as “a kick in the face to the staff.

“Morale is really low . . . They need to hire more people for the needs of the students. They could use that money to hire more staff.”

Smith said there has been “a growing mistrust of this particular organization” among staff in the two weeks since the deficit-fighting proposals emerged.

“There is a sense in our ranks — and I think it’s shared outside of our ranks — that people don’t believe (the school board), which is really damaging to this institution,” he said.

Because this year’s projected deficit is greater than the ministry’s requirements of one per cent of operating revenue, a deficit recovery plan needs to be submitted with the approved 2024-2025 budget.

As well, Thames Valley must have a balanced budget by 2026-2027 and a surplus balance of about $20 million — two per cent of the board’s operating costs — by 2027-2028, the report said.

Thames Valley staff is working with the ministry to request approval to transfer up to $12.5 million from the sale of properties to the unappropriated accumulated surplus.

Thames Valley is Ontario’s fourth-largest school board, with 84,000 students at 160 schools.

The board has more than 5,500 teachers and 5,000 occasional staff, and about 2,000 support staff.

Trustees are expected to approve the 2024-25 budget on June 25.

HRivers@postmedia.com

@HeaatheratLFP

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