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TORONTO — The union representing Ontario’s 76,000 public elementary teachers has reached a tentative agreement with the government that guarantees they’ll be paid the same as counterparts in the French and Catholic school systems starting in 2014-15.

Members of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario make two per cent less than their colleagues in other unions, a situation Education Minister Liz Sandals says cannot be justified in the next round of bargaining.

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The extra money for the elementary teachers will cost the province $112-million a year on top of whatever raises the union negotiates next time.

The new tentative deal, which mirrors agreements with the public high school teachers, freezes the wages of most elementary educators, but still allows younger teachers to move up the salary grid.

Sandals says teachers will take at least one unpaid day off during the course of the contract to help offset the cost of allowing raises for their younger colleagues.