By The Canadian Press

VANCOUVER – The province’s offer to give B.C.’s public school teachers some extra cash if they sign a deal ending their strike expires today.

The more than 40,000 teachers are being offered $1,200 a piece to end the job action that halted classes for more than half a million students on June 17.

Class size, wages and support staff numbers are the key issues in the dispute.

B.C.’s labour board ruled last week that teachers must hold summer classes for students in Grades 10 to 12 who failed courses during the year and can’t retake them in the next school year.

The board has asked school districts to submit a list of courses and the number of educators needed to teach them to the teachers’ union by Wednesday.

Meanwhile, it remains unclear whether the handful of schools that don’t close for summer will reopen this week.

The province asked the labour board to force teachers at these schools to return to work, but the board has delayed its decision.

Teachers, however, have promised to remove picket lines at the year-round schools, meaning classes could resume this week.