A three-year breakthrough deal reached by the Ontario high school teachers’ union, government and school boards — one that provides a small wage increase and protects class sizes — is expected to now pave the way for other settlements and minimize labour turmoil this fall.

News of the tentative agreement was followed by an announcement from the elementary teachers’ union that its work-to-rule plan will not affect extracurricular activities and will remain largely administrative, save for a ban on attending meet-the-teacher nights.

Even though Sam Hammond, president of the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario, was still talking tough about his union’s upcoming negotiations Sept. 1, educators are now cautiously optimistic other deals will soon be hammered out.

Former deputy education minister Charles Pascal, now a professor at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, said he thinks the elementary teachers can also get a deal and avert a strike.

However, he added, “most important is the deep breath you can hear around the province from elementary parents and students — you hear the deep breath that coincides with the (elementary teachers’) plan to be back in the classroom” in September, with a job action he characterized as a “compromise.”

The agreement with the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation is the first provincial deal reached under new, two-tier bargaining legislation.

OSSTF President Paul Elliott said while it won’t prevent local strikes, if approved by local union leaders across the province this Friday night, and ratified soon after by teachers, he expects local deals to fall into place in short order.

“We are hoping that a lot of school boards will now be picking up the phone and we’ll get dates for some local negotiations,” Elliott told the Star after a marathon bargaining session that began Tuesday morning and lasted almost 48 hours.

Elliott also said should local presidents give the tentative agreement the nod, the union will reconsider its planned work-to-rule for September, which includes a ban on extracurriculars.

The province’s Catholic teachers continue to bargain this week, and French teachers next week.

“This is a very significant and happy day in terms of getting the kids back to school,” Premier Kathleen Wynne told reporters Thursday. The fact a tentative deal has been reached shows the “collaboration prevailed,” but she noted that “challenging” talks with other teacher unions continue.

“I know that our teachers and support staff want to be in school … and I look forward to the conversations at the other (negotiation) tables.”

Sources have told the Star the proposed deal will give high school teachers a small salary increase — believed to be a 1 per cent lump sum payment this year, and a 1.5 per cent salary increase next year.

The increase won’t cost the province any additional money because savings were found elsewhere, sources said. The government has repeatedly said any deal must be “net zero” given Ontario’s $11.9 billion deficit.

Elliott said the contentious issue of giving school boards some flexibility to increase high school class sizes was taken off the table — a change he had vowed teachers would not accept.

While school boards had fought to get rid of Regulation 274, which forces principals to use seniority when hiring for long-term supply jobs and permanent positions, the issue instead will be under a review to be completed by the end of December, sources say.

The proposed deal also tweaks current health care provisions and moves the union closer to running its own benefits plan, sources said.

The tentative three-year deal will actually expire in August 2017, given the OSSTF contract expired a year ago.

Under Ontario’s new bargaining process, agreements must be reached provincially — on big issues like class size and salary — and locally, covering more administrative issues such as performance reviews. So far, just the Peel District School Board has reached a full local agreement, with the help of arbitration.

Carol Jolin of the French teachers’ union said no job action is planned as yet for the fall because the union has bargaining dates next week and in the first two weeks of September.

The OSSTF deal “is certainly a good sign, but I’m cautiously optimistic,” he said. “Once we’re at the table next week, we’ll have a better idea if the employers are willing to (remove) the strips on the table.”

Doug Jolliffe, president of the Toronto OSSTF, said there are “still some important issues that will have to be resolved” before a local deal can be struck with the Toronto District School Board.

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He believes Wynne is keen to reach deals with teacher unions given the upcoming federal election and worries that labour strife could impact the Justin Trudeau Liberals.

“Parents may not like teachers taking job action, but they blame governments,” he said. “So there was pressure on her to settle.”

Elliott said he felt it was the involvement of the Premier’s office that ultimately led to the deal.

Michael Barrett, president of the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association, said the deal shows what can be accomplished when both sides sit down and work together.