The education sector was the single largest growth area in reporting for the provincial Sunshine List. The annual report from the province was released March 19th.
The Ontario Sunshine List, which has reported provincial, municipal, school board and crown agency salaries above $100,000 since 1997, grew by 37,508 people in the last year. Some of that growth is attributed to the health care sector where the response to the COVID-19 pandemic has added positions and overtime.
In the education sector, it is teachers who have added the largest increases.
In 2019, teachers earning over $100,000 per year accounted for just over half (14,673) of the 28,198 education positions on the Sunshine List.
One year later, that number has more than doubled to 29,588 teachers, a growth rate of 101.7 per cent. Non-teaching positions including administration grew by 692 positions, or 5.1 per cent.
Growth in the education sector accounted for 41.6 per cent of all new salaries reported on the Sunshine List. Seventy-five per cent of all education sector employees on the list earn less than $110,000 per year in 2020. That is an increase from 67 per cent of employees in 2019.
In the nearly 25 year existence of Ontario’s Sunshine List, the $100,000 salary benchmark for inclusion has never been indexed.
Looking at the four boards that operate in Eastern Ontario outside of Ottawa, most teaching and administrative salaries increased in the past year, except for the head of the Upper Canada District School Board.
UCDSB Director of Education Stephen Sliwa is now the second-highest paid out of the four publicly-funded school boards in Eastern Ontario. In 2020 he earned $238,178, an 8.6 per cent decrease from 2019.
The school board had 318 employees appear on this year’s Sunshine List totalling $36.23M in wages. These include seven superintendents, 82 principals, 44 vice-principals, and 150 teachers. Forty-two of the employees are employed in the board office.
Separately listed, the Upper Canada Leger Centre for Education Executive Director Matthew Raby earned $101,135 in 2020.
Catholic District School Board of Eastern Ontario Director of Education John Cameron earned $216,000 in 2020, an amount that was unchanged from 2019. Associate Director Bonnie Norton earned $205,615 in 2020, an increase of 3.85 per cent from the previous year.
The CDSBEO had 170 employees appear on the Sunshine List in 2020 accounting for $19.24M in wages. This includes three superintendents, 39 principals, 27 vice-principals, and 72 teachers. Thirty-four of the employees are located in the board office.
The Conseil Des Écoles Publiques De L’est De L’ontario (French-Public) Director of Education Sylvie Tremblay earn $191,768 in 2020. She replaced outgoing Director of Education Edith Dumont, who earned $260,697 in 2020.
CEPEO listed 401 employees on the 2020 Sunshine List, accounting for $48.69M in salaries. These include four superintendents, 36 principals, 38 vice-principals, and 302 teachers.
Conseil Scolaire De District Catholique De L’est Ontarien (French-Catholic) Director of Education François Turpin is the highest-paid of the four school boards that serve the region. In 2020, he earned $270,492, an increase of 3.52 per cent from 2019.
CSDCDO reported 205 employees on the Sunshine List for a total of $23.54M in salaries. These include seven superintendents, 34 principals, 24 vice-principals, and 95 teachers.
The 2019-20 school year was also a contract negociation year as all unionized worker contracts had expired before the start of that year.
All five unions, the Canadian Union of Public Employees, Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario, Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation, Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association, and the Association des enseignantes et des enseignants franco-ontariens, agreed to new contracts in early spring 2020.
Any pay increases negocated in union contracts would be retoractively paid, once the contracts were signed.
Teachers are also paid at a higher rate when acting in a temporary administration roll.
The Sunshine List was established by premier Mike Harris in 1996 with the goal of publicizing the salary and benefits of public service employees who earn over $100,000 per year.
In 1996, the first reporting year, 4,250 employees made the list with over $526.5 million in salary. The Education sector accounted for 8.9 per cent of reported salaries. Three of the 382 education positions were teachers.
