Tim Hudak cuts to education would mean at least 22,700 job cuts and a funding cut of at least $1.5-billion to planned education spending | Unpublished
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Ontario Liberals have a long tradition of working to improve the lives of all Ontarians, from the party's pre-Confederation roots as a force for equality and democracy, to the Wynne Liberals of today.

The Ontario Liberal Party has its roots in the Reform Party of William Lyon Mackenzie and Robert Baldwin, who fought for real democracy in the 1830s and 1840s against the elitist, conservative rule of the Family Compact.

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Today we continue on in the best tradition of the early party – whether investing in public health care to make wait times in Ontario the shortest in Canada, introducing the first full-day kindergarten to help both parents and students, or helping to make Ontario a North American leader in clean technology – attracting more, higher paying jobs for Ontario families.

The words of Liberal Prime Minister Sir Wilfred Laurier a century ago ring true for Ontario Liberals today: “I am a liberal. I am one of those who think that everywhere in human beings, there are abuses to be reformed, new horizons to be opened up, and new forces to be developed.”

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Tim Hudak cuts to education would mean at least 22,700 job cuts and a funding cut of at least $1.5-billion to planned education spending

June 10, 2014

1.  Full-Day Kindergarten cuts:

Total cut: $300-million (2017-18). Source: Ontario PC platform

Total staff cut due to FDK cut: 7,134 (calculations below)

Staff number: 265,000 students in FDK in September 2014, at a 26:2 (one Early Childhood Educator, one teacher) ratio, means 10,192 ECEs and 10,192 teachers. A movement to 20  students to 1 teacher, as per Drummond and Tim Hudak’s platform, means all ECEs are fired, and 13,250 total teachers are now required.
Therefore, 10,192 ECEs are cut, and 3,058 new teachers would be required.

2.  Support staff cuts

Total cut: $600-million (2017-18). Source: Ontario PC platform

Total staff cut: 9,700. Source: Ontario PC platform

3.  Teacher cuts due to larger class sizes

Total cut: $425-million (2017-18). Source: Ontario PC platform.

Total staff cut: 5,900 (calculations below)

  • K-3: Set the cap in class size at 23 in primary grades and eliminate the other requirement that 90 per cent of classes must be at 20 or fewer: 1,000 teachers
  • 4-8: Increase the average class size from 24.5 to 26: 1,900 teachers
  • 9-12: Increase the average class size from 22 to 24: 3,000 teachers

(source: Drummond recommendation and Ontario Liberal Party calculations)

4.  Other cuts (specified)

Total cut: $220-million in 2017-18. Source: Ontario PC platform (not proceeding with ETFO increase: $112-million; not proceeding with ECE increase: $108-million)

5. Other cuts (non-specified)

But Hudak also needs to cut $2.15-billion elsewhere because he has counted a wage freeze in his balanced budget plan that is already part of our plan. That works out to another 1.8% program cut in 2016-17. Apply that proportionally to the education budget ($25.6-billion in 2016-17), and he would need to cut an additional $458-million in education in 2016-17.

That would mean thousands more job cuts in education.

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