Staffing cuts at St. Clair College expected to impact teaching this fall, union says

St. Clair College as seen on Sept. 19, 2024. (Rob Hindi/AM800 News)

St. Clair College’s faculty union says staffing cuts outlined in the school’s newly approved budget will affect teaching positions this fall, though the full impact remains unclear.

As AM800 reported, the college’s board of governors approved its 2026-27 budget Tuesday night, projecting a $5.5-million deficit.

OPSEU Local 138 represents about 1,000 faculty members. Union president Mark Colangelo says any reduction in programs or course offerings directly affects the number of faculty required to teach them.

Colangelo says approximately 37 faculty members are retiring this spring through a voluntary exit program, which is expected to help the college avoid full-time layoffs this year.

“That will have an impact on what’s available to be taught from a part-time perspective,” Colangelo said. “Some of those folks will be replaced by part-timers, and there will also be full-timers hired to fill in some of those positions as well.

“So we’re really in a moving target situation as to what it’s going to look like in the fall,” he added.

Colangelo says while retirements have eased some pressure in the short term, the longer-term outlook will depend largely on whether government funding improves.

He says college administration has assured the union there will be no full-time layoffs at this time, but uncertainty remains among members as they look ahead to future budgets.

“If we don’t get an increase in funding from this government and we’re projecting a budget deficit next year, what does the following year look like?” Colangelo said. “Are we going to be looking at potential campus closures? Are we going to be looking at laying off full-time faculty? That’s what’s happening at other colleges across the province.”

In its budget report, the college says international enrolment has dropped 93 per cent since 2023.

Colangelo says the federal cap on international students is a major factor, but it has also exposed what he describes as long-standing provincial underfunding that colleges had been offsetting with international tuition.

“With the removal of international students, it’s now been laid bare that we have a government that is not funding post-secondary education to the level required for it to be successful and to provide the quality of education Ontarians deserve,” he said.

Colangelo also says recent changes to the OSAP funding model will make it more difficult for some lower-income students to attend college, potentially further reducing enrolment.