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Back in August, Ontario learned that its Liberal government and several of its teachers’ unions had just about settled their latest marathon contract dispute. Teachers would get a 1% lump sum payment in September, plus a 1% raise the following year, plus another 0.5% after that, plus improved sick leave and benefits, all at a net-zero cost to the government. Education Minister Liz Sandals confirmed that “any salary increases [would be] offset in other areas within the collective agreement,” though declined to say where, exactly, it found the money.

“What I want to make absolutely clear is that we have not changed class size,” she said, and left it at that. At the time, it was reasonable to infer that something else was being cut to finance teachers’ raises, but Ontario’s government was content to tell taxpayers and parents that the specifics were none of their business.

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And they would have stuck to that position had the Globe and Mail not published the details of the confidential 42-page agreement with the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation from August. According to the document, the added funds came from two sources: an amendment to the process for cashing in sick days, which will allow teachers to cash in some of their sick days next year, as opposed to when they retire, at a reduced rate, as well as funds that were supposed to go toward a program to prevent at-risk students from dropping out of school. It’s that latter source of new teacher revenue that has many Ontarians justifiably upset.