Article content continued

“It’s not clear whose interests are being served by publicizing information based on severely outdated criteria,” Hawkins wrote in an emailed statement.

The reason teachers make the Sunshine List despite a maximum salary of $95,794 is because they take on additional duties such as summer school courses or hold higher positions such as department heads.

But both Elliott and the Ministry of Education attribute the inflated numbers to a one-time payout established in the 2014-2017 collective agreements that allowed teachers to cash in on banked sick days before retirement for a discounted rate.

(Wynne) is tracking at 12 per cent in the polls. She can’t afford for a bloc not to come out. She’s going to spend our money to buy that support

Before 2012, Ontario teachers were able to bank unused sick days until retirement, when they could cash them in for a maximum of half of a year’s salary. McGuinty stopped the practice and, according to the government, saved $1.6 billion over three years.

As part of the deal, eligible teachers had the choice of cashing in, but losing 7.5 per cent for every year they were away from retirement, Elliott said.

“That might have been an anomaly for the year,” he said. “The only thing I can think of was that gratuity payout.”

Teacher salaries are determined by their rank on an 11-step grid that they are able to climb based on every year of experience they gain in a permanent position and their qualifications. According to the Ministry of Education, the average salary for Ontario’s 170,000 teachers is about $88,000. For teachers earning $95,794 (without benefits), the payouts could’ve resulted in a boost that would have pushed them over the $100,000 mark.