The province is paying out millions to parents as a result of escalating teacher strikes — but more than three quarters of those eligible for the child-care compensation have not applied.

As of Tuesday, the province had received 342,856 applications since announcing mid-January it would compensate parents between $25 and $60 per child, depending on their age, for each day schools, or school-based child-care centres, are closed because of a strike. That’s less than a quarter of the roughly 1.45 million eligible across Ontario to receive the reimbursement — an offer criticized by some as bribe money.

According to the Ministry of Education, the first direct deposit was made Friday — on Tuesday, it didn’t have a dollar figure for how much was paid out last week. But that first round of payments was just for 90,748 children — so at the very minimum, at least $2.2 million was paid, based on each child receiving the lowest amount of $25 for one day of action.

With each day of labour unrest, sparked by contract negotiations between teachers’ unions and the Ford government, the number of applicants has been growing. Education Minister Stephen Lecce launched the initiative on Jan. 15, saying his government recognizes “the impact of union escalation on families” and that “unions expect hard-working families to bear the costs of their cyclical labour action.” Since, there has been a steady increase in applications, but when unions announce an escalation of job action, the ministry sees a jump in numbers.

The latest ministry figures come in the midst of a disruptive week with the province’s three largest unions engaged in strike action. Unions say key issues include more resources for students with special needs and their opposition to the government’s plan to introduce two mandatory e-courses in high schools and to boost class size averages to 25 students, which would result in lost teaching positions and fewer courses. But the government says the sticking point is salary, with the province offering a 1 per cent increase, while unions want cost of living, or about 2 per cent.

On Tuesday, Ontario’s 45,000 elementary and secondary teachers in English Catholic schools, represented by the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association, hit the picket lines for a second time in recent weeks, resulting in Catholic school closures provincewide. And public high school teachers represented by the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation — its membership includes 60,000 educators — walked off the job in select boards, including York Region, which closed all high schools. As of Tuesday evening, both those unions said they had no plans for future walkouts.

Meanwhile, the union representing the province’s 83,000 public elementary teachers, early childhood educators and education professionals, will continue rolling strikes impacting various boards — this week its members will strike twice, including a provincewide walkout Thursday. Public boards including Toronto and York will also be affected Friday so elementary schools there will shut down. The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario will keep up with rotating strikes next week, including another provincewide one scheduled for Feb. 11.

The strikes have left some parents scrambling for child care. Sam Hammond, president of the elementary teachers’ union has called the government’s Support for Parents compensation program a way of “trying to bribe parents to get their support.”

One application, per child, must be submitted — so a family with three kids submits three applications. Parents apply once and identify their child’s school board. The ministry then tracks the number of days that child is impacted by strikes and calculates the payout. There’s no need to prove financial hardship. The province will pay $60 per day for children in a school-based child-care centre, $40 for those in kindergarten, $25 for those in Grades 1 to 7 and $40 for those with special needs up to Grade 12. You can apply online and there are paper applications at constituency offices.

According to the ministry, 1.45 million children are eligible. An additional 42,000 children not yet enrolled in school, may be eligible if their school-based child-care centre is closed.

The funds come from unpaid teachers’ salaries on strike days. If all four teachers’ unions — representing English, French, public and Catholic educators — hit the picket lines for a day, that full withdrawal of service would amount to $60 million in salaries. And if everyone eligible for compensation requested it, the total payout for a day would be $48 million. (All four unions are engaged in work-to-rule campaigns — but just three have walked off the job.)

Once parents get their first payment via direct deposit, they receive subsequent payments weekly. Those who prefer to be paid by cheque will receive one lump sum at the end of the labour unrest. Funding will also be retroactive — parents have up to four weeks after a negotiation is reached to apply.

Toronto parent Rachel Huot, who has children in Grades 3 and 6, says she suspects the low number of applicants is because “this government is not connected to parents at all even when it comes to accessing funds for child care.”

“Parents are spreading the word,” said Huot, part of the grassroots Ontario Parent Action Network. “I know of a parent outside Toronto who’s made flyers and is ... going to talk to parents at the school to let them know the money is available.”

She’s also heard of parents weighing whether to apply, “trying to figure out how to balance being really angry that the government was not making a deal and not reversing cuts, and also their own child-care needs.”

“We do absolutely support and encourage parents to access the child-care money to help ease financial costs,” said Huot, who helped set up five strike camps in Toronto for Thursday and Friday, as a way to help parents with child care.

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On picket lines and on social media, some have said they planned to apply for the funds and then donate them to schools, school boards and unions.

At the Toronto District School Board, spokesperson Ryan Bird said while some parents may have donated to their school directly — some are also giving it to the board.

“Centrally, we are aware of a small handful of parents who have donated money through our online donation portal and have indicated that it is money from the strike-related financial support from the provincial government,” he told the Star.

And at the Toronto Catholic board, spokesperson Shazia Vlahos said no one has said they are specifically donating dollars received from the province, but a few online donations have been made “to support teachers.”

Online, a petition called “Take My Bribe Money & Put It Back Into Education!,” has more than 34,000 signatures. When asked about it by reporters Jan. 20, Lecce blamed the job escalation on unions and said, “No parent in this province exacerbated this problem. No child in this province created this problem.”

“ I feel very strongly that money’s best positioned in the pockets of working people in this province.”