Uncertainty ahead for Ontario elementary teachers, says local ETFO president

As elementary students head back to class this week in Ontario, their teachers may be feeling a growing sense of wariness about what the future holds.

The new school term comesafter a whirlwind 2018, in which the2015 sex ed curriculumwas scrapped, a teacher "snitch line" was introduced andmost recently$25 million in specialized program funding was slashed.

"I think what people are feeling is, 'Okay, there's something coming, but we're not sure quite what we're bracing ourselves for yet,'" said Craig Smith,president of the Thames Valley local of the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario(ETFO).

As for the the$25 million in specialized program cuts, Smith said thesum isn't huge in the grand scheme of the province, but added thatmany of the small programs sitting on the chopping block have nonetheless had a big impact for students.

Locally, Smith saidone program slated for changeis a tutoring partnership that pairs high school students with elementary students formath and language tutoring.

"That program was really targeted at schools that served the communities where those kids wouldn't have the opportunity for tutoring," said Smith, adding that the teenage tutors also benefitby gaining valuable work experience.

Still, Smith said it's yet unclear whether "change" for this type of program means that it will be cut, merged into another program or simply renamed.

"The board is being presented with a really complicated puzzle to sort out right now," he said.

Local teachers are also awaiting answers regarding the new schools and additionspromised by the previous Liberal governmentthat have since hung in limbo. Among them isMasonville Public School, where manyof the school's students are housed in portables.

In November, the Thames Valley District School Board told CBC the board is in regular contact with ministry of education officials, but that the province"has not indicated when the reviews [to education funding] will be completed."

"Quite apart from the fact,the government's put on hold all of the repair money that the schools need," said Craig.

"So, we wait and see."

Bargaining on the horizon

Overall, the cuts announced at the end of 2018 may bea "canary in the coal mine" for Smith, who expectsa fuller picture of the province's plan for education toemerge in the upcoming provincial budget.

And with teacher contracts expiring later this year, Smith said his members are gearing up for a challenginground of bargaining, alluding to past friction between teachers and provincial conservatives.

"There's some history there," said Smith. "I think we have an opportunity to change that."

"We're looking for a tough round of bargaining, we have issues that need to be addressed, we need to roll up our sleeves and get to work."