The province has doled out more than $7.1 million to teachers’ unions and Ontario school boards this fall to help cover the costs of bargaining — with more expected to be paid out when a deal is reached with support staff.

In a memo to school boards, sent in July and obtained by the Star, the education ministry states they will receive a total of $4.6 million, on top of the controversial $2.5 million paid to the high school, Catholic and French-board teacher unions.

"School boards are funded by the province to deliver education across all four publicly funded systems and to manage one of the best systems in the world,” said Education Minister Liz Sandals’ spokesperson, Alessandra Fusco. “Part of managing that system is the new provincial responsibility for labour relations under the School Board Collective Bargaining Act and the province is providing school boards funding to support that critical role.”

At Queen’s Park on Monday, the Liberal government continued to face heavy criticism over the millions paid to education unions, no receipts required.

Premier Kathleen Wynne said “there’s always a cost to negotiations.”

But Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown joked about the Liberals’ suggesting the funds went to pay for pizza and other meals.

“The pepperoni must be gold-plated,” said Brown.

“What was this money really for?” he asked, referring to the fact education unions have bankrolled election attack ads against the Tories to help the Liberals in every campaign since 2003.

“You did it, too,” Sandals lectured the Opposition, reminding them the PCs covered some negotiating expenses while in office.

Among the two main unions the province and school boards have yet to settle with, the Canadian Union of Public Employees had accepted a total of $461,000 in 2008 and 2012 negotiations. The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario, or ETFO, has said it will refuse such payouts — and indeed has in the past.

The money given to the school boards’ associations, which are wholly dependent on provincial funding as they have no power to raise taxes, is to cover staffing required for central negotiations — where big items like salary and class size are hammered out — as well as travel and accommodation, and legal help, says the memo.

Michael Barrett, president of the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association — which bargains on behalf of public school boards in the province — said the costs this time around have “absolutely” been higher.

“This time we are shouldering the larger part of the negotiations — in the past, we would have had much smaller (bargaining) tables, not as many tables and not as many people.

“The government had more people last time … and they have shifted that responsibility to us,” he said, adding the money has been used to hire staff to handle negotiations, arbitration as well as offset expenses.

Last week, it was revealed that the Ontario government had paid $1 million each to the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation and the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association, as well as half a million to AEFO, which represents French-board teachers for this round of bargaining.

In 2008, $690,000 was paid to OSSTF, the French-board teachers (AEFO), as well as CUPE.

In 2012, $200,000 went to OSSTF, $170,000 to the French-board teachers and $181,000 to CUPE.

Ann Hawkins, president of the Catholic teachers union, has previously told the Star the new bargaining system was “incredibly time- and cost-heavy,” so the extra funds were needed, and bristled at suggestions the money was a “bribe.”

Sandals has called this round “an unusually dragged out process,” because “each and every clause” in contracts had to be renegotiated, given the province’s new bargaining legislation.

On Monday, Sandals emphasized the changes to the bargaining process mean the payouts will not be needed in the future.

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“We will never, ever have to fund the unions again, because the transformation will be done,” Sandals told reporters.

The government and school boards continue to bargain with the elementary teachers’ union, after Wynne announced Friday that teachers’ and support staff pay could be docked should a deal not be reached by Nov. 1.

CUPE returns to bargaining on Tuesday and a spokesperson said the team is prepared to remain at the table.

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