The public is well aware of what teachers are doing on the picket lines. The question is whether they support it.

There have been plenty of polls done on this issue, some better than others.

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The teachers claim they have the public fully behind them by asking such questions as whether you support paying down the deficit or want to stop cutting teachers and courses. The province is doing neither, but that’s what the poll paid for by the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation wanted to ask the public.

A more nuanced and interesting set of questions came from the latest survey, conducted this week by Campaign Research. The poll found 93% of the public know about the rotating teachers strikes. That’s not surprising. The fact that 7% of the public were willing to say they hadn’t heard of them does concern me.

On such issues as annual pay, 68% said they were aware the average teacher salary is about $93,000. That’s a fairly high level of awareness for something the teachers would rather you didn’t know.

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When it comes to raises, an issue the teachers have taken the government to court on while claiming it isn’t a priority, the public could appear clearly on the government side but, again, there is nuance.

Asked straight up whether they supported the government or the teachers on a 1% wage increase versus a 2% wage increase, 32% back the teachers compared with 48% who back the government.

On what the raise should be, 50% say teachers should get 1% or less per year for the next three years, 15% say it should be 1.5% and 20% say it should be 2% or higher.

Not exactly a ringing endorsement of the teachers’ position.

Of course, like I said, teachers want you to think this is not at all about their income and all about the students. We need more money for special education or students at risk — that is what you will be told.

Then may I present the 2017 report from Ontario’s auditor general.

The previous Liberal government had offered up money for special education funds, English as a second language or the “Learning Opportunities Fund.” The auditor general’s report says the Toronto Catholic board was given $46.5 million for the Learning Opportunities Fund and the audit found only half of it was used for what it was supposed to be used for.

The auditor’s report found “the remaining funds were used to support a shortfall in teacher salaries and special-education funding” — meaning the money that was supposed to help at-risk students simply went to teacher salaries and not salaries for teachers helping those at-risk students.

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The report found similar instances at the Toronto public board, Hastings and Prince Edward and Hamilton-Wentworth.

I get it. There are many, many good teachers who chose their jobs for the right reasons and do a fantastic job. Unions, though, are in it for unions and the leadership. I say this as a union member.

The teachers’ unions always want more members and higher pay because that means more money for them and the high salaries of their high-priced executives.

Ontarians have finally woken up to the fact that we can’t afford the teacher demands anymore.