Before the provincial government releases its 2019 budget, teachers and their supporters rallied in front of MPP Doug Downey’s office Thursday afternoon to show their disapproval of any cuts to education that may be coming.
Approximately 30 people held signs and flags in front of Downey’s Bell Farm Road constituency office despite the Barrie-Springwater-Oro-Medonte representative not being on site.
The rally had been planned for several weeks, but kept being postponed due to bad weather.
Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation (OSSTF) teachers' bargaining unit president Jen Hare told BarrieToday it was crucial to get their voices heard before the budget is released in the spring.
“We’re to send a clear message before the budget is produced, or at least before it is announced, that we need to have no cuts to education,” said Hare. “Our schools are already suffering; our kids are already suffering due to a lack of resources due to crumbling infrastructure and a lack of support in the system. Any cuts are going to be detrimental to their future.”
Hare said she's afraid that most people are looking at the teachers in a bad light while not understanding why they are so upset with potential cuts, saying it isn’t about money but more about proper education for kids and teachers keeping jobs.
“The provincial government keeps proposing it as not being a big deal because it is only four cents on every dollar, but if you actually look at the education budget line that is actually one billion dollars,” said Hare.
“Another thing is right now we’re funded for one teacher for every 22 students, but they’re saying they may raise that to 23 students," she added. "I know it doesn’t sound like that big of a deal to some, but that will turn out to be approximately 40 secondary school teachers losing their jobs and Ontario wide that is over 1,200 teachers.”
Downey was not at his office for comment.
