Mr. Lafferty. Mr. Daniels.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The numbers that we were looking at were the course credit completions for students that were in the alternative schools. So it would not have just been the graduates, but the credit completions of the students that are in the alternative programs.
Is there a category of schools that increases in funding as a result of this formula? Is it perhaps those with smaller numbers of students increasing funding? How is it that some schools are increasing and some are decreasing?
With the formula that we developed, we look at the course completions and some of the ones that are... Where the budgets have been increased based on formula, yes, that’s based on credit completions where they’ve been having some success in terms of getting students through the alternative method of schooling. Then there were other factors that were taken into the formula including the cost of teachers to support the students in those courses or programs as well as some administrative cost, and any costs associated with rent because some of the programs are delivered outside the school environment.
I appreciate that detail. So if costs of teachers were higher, would you get more funds or lower funding?
The number of teachers that are required for students enrolled in these programs, if there were more enrolled in these programs or more that were completing course credits, that could affect the number of teachers that are required for the program. So that could affect the amount that would be required to deliver the alternative programs.
I guess basically I have some of the same concerns as Mrs. Groenewegen about this new approach. In the case of the Phoenix School it just seems like once they’re hitting their stride and getting successful and really starting to put out the graduates, and I believe our graduation rate has not been doing well, it’s sort of like a school that struggles and finally finds its stride and we start to penalize them and knock them back. I guess I’ll just leave it at that comment. Great if the Minister can assure me that’s not happening, but that’s the sense I’m getting. I hope the Minister will take these remarks and give this another good look.
More of a comment, but would you like to respond, Mr. Lafferty?
Mahsi, Mr. Chairman. We did take a good look at the overall evaluation that’s been brought to our attention. Based on the students taking the accredited programming, we’ve identified -- let’s say I can use the Phoenix School -- the operation costs we’ll cover and the number of students that are enrolled. The overall cost for a teacher to deliver those programs to a number of students that we’re going to cover. We also stated that if there are additional costs that they can substantiate, then we’ll seriously look into that as well for additional costs. That’s what we’ve done. We’ll continue to work with the school boards at that level. We need to closely monitor that. If there’s an increase in students, then that will have an impact on the funding criteria as well. We’ll have to monitor that.
I appreciate the Minister’s remarks. I guess this is a 33 percent reduction to the Phoenix School. I’m taking from the Minister’s remarks that we’ve been overfunding this school, based on the costs that the department estimates they should have, by about 33 percent. That’s quite a disjuncture there. I guess I’ll be interested in seeing how this pans out. I think this has been a good analysis, if that is in fact the case and we are not causing the number of graduates to decrease and course completions to decrease. I’ll leave it at that for now.
Like I said before, we will continue to provide funding based on the students and based on the operation of alternative school programming. We’re focusing on the students and providing funding for operations costs. As I stated, if there are additional costs as required on the students, then we’ll seriously look at those areas as well.
Thank you. Next I have Mr. Abernethy.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I’ve got some questions on page 10-19 based on the $148 million education authority contributions. The second sentence in that section says: “Enrolment-based formulae are used to determine the majority of payments.” I’m curious if the Minister could tell me a little bit about the formula used as part of this $148 million to determine how much money is allocated for inclusive schooling to each of the individual schools and authorities.
Mr. Daniels.
Thank you. There’s a percentage of the overall allocation. I believe it’s 18.5 percent that’s allocated towards inclusive schooling. That’s part of the overall formula.
Thank you, Mr. Daniels. Anything further, Mr. Abernethy?
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. In talking to some of the school boards, I was under the impression that there was some negotiation going on between Education, Culture and Employment and the school boards to bump that percentage up to 20 percent. For a while I thought it sounded like it might happen, but then it didn’t happen. Is there any reason why we didn’t move up to the 20 percent allocation for inclusive schooling?
Right now, I think it’s more a matter of overall resourcing that’s available. We are providing funding for inclusive schooling that goes beyond our statutory requirements at this stage in terms of a percentage. We have been reviewing, through the Program Review Office, funding increases in the education area that are related to inclusive schooling as well as the pupil-teacher ratio.
In talking to the school boards, the increase of 1 percent to I guess it would be 19.5 or 20, would be significant to the school boards across the Territory. It’s not just a Yellowknife issue, it’s a territorial issue. It wouldn’t result in significant money per board or school but it would make a significant difference, and I know, although they’d really appreciate it, I know what’s already been allocated, that little percentage would be significant to them. Will the department continue to pursue that to see if an additional percent could be added to this particular formula so that we can get them a little bit more money for this particular area?
Mr. Lafferty.
Mr. Chair, inclusive schooling is also being looked at by a committee. It is in the works. There are changes that will be coming down and then we will definitely notify the Members. Mahsi.
Also in this area, I mean, we want this $148 million to go as far as it possibly can by way of programming and helping to educate children. In my general comments to the opening remarks I talked about infrastructure. I know this isn’t infrastructure, but as I indicated then, infrastructure drives spending and Sissons School and Mildred Hall... Mildred Hall, we could probably reduce the operations costs of that facility significantly just by finishing the renovations that we started and finishing the back side of that building and putting in the better quality windows and more insulation. By investing some infrastructure dollars into Sissons we could really reduce the long-term, ongoing O and M costs in that facility and, therefore, have more money to focus directly in on programming.
By way of a comment and an encouragement, I’m encouraging you to get Mildred Hall and Sissons back on the planning schedule so that we can get the required renovations done to those schools so that over time we can maximize the benefit of these $148 million by way of programming for children in our schools Just a comment. Thank you.
Just a comment. Thank you, Mr. Abernethy. Next on my list I have Mr. Yakeleya.
Mr. Chair, I want to ask the Minister, on page 10-19 again, on the NWT Teachers’ Association Professional Development Fund. When is the government set to have another Collective Agreement negotiation with them?
Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. Minister Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Chair. I believe the negotiation is up and coming in 2012. I believe that is the expiration date. That will be before us as we move forward. Mahsi.
I want to ask the Minister, in terms of the mandatory cultural orientation for all teachers, if this item would be an item that could be part of the Collective Agreement on a going forward basis.
Yes, it could be part of the discussion. It would be between the parties that will be negotiating. It’s noted. Mahsi.
I look forward to that discussion. I’m not too sure if we’ll be around to see how it goes, so I look forward to the Minister’s remarks and that to see how far it carries.
I want to ask the Minister, in terms of the education authority contributions, on the O and M to the education authorities, Mr. Chair, the Minister alluded to stating that a number of computers have come into the different authorities and are greatly appreciated by the authorities. I’ve also noted that in the Sahtu in 2005-2006 I think we had about 150 computers in our schools. In 2010-11 that number bumped up to 450 or so in that area. I want to ask the Minister, in terms of funding and support for these computers, you know, they break down and they need servers to be fixed and things that go along with maintenance of computer use. Are the education authorities funded to look after the use of computers as part of their formula funding?
Mr. Chair, the annual O and M contribution to the education authorities is, of course, we provide funding and then they use it at their discretion where their priorities lie. If it’s laptops or computers, then it will be at their discretion to utilize that funding. This laptop we’ve initiated as an initiative under the Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative and it was a one-time deal. We just wanted to highlight some of the key aspects that came out of the discussion and we’ve initiated that discussion and then we pursued it. If it’s the wish of the DEA or DEC to highlight or set priorities on their computers or different areas of interest, then it will be at their discretion. Mahsi.
The Minister is correct that the DEA does have the discretion as to where they spend their O and M. In saying that, we have about 450 computers in the Sahtu that certainly need support, IT support. Right now there’s none in terms of unless the DEA takes a little pot here, takes a pot here, and there’s different programming that they also need to be funded. There’s no dedicated dollars going to IT support in the Sahtu schools and that’s something that I want to ask the Minister if that’s a true statement that there is no IT support in our schools for computers unless the education board themselves have to be very creative in terms of how they support schools and their networking systems by taking the money in different pockets, but there’s no general IT support funding for the schools. Thank you.
Mr. Chair, there is no specific category for IT support. Again, the money that we allocate to the education authority, they can utilize the funding if they feel that it’s a priority to support more in the IT area. Again, it’s at their discretion. Mahsi.
Mr. Chair, with today’s technology and the younger generation and the learning that’s been more and more advanced in terms of the technology out there and we’re now asking our students to participate in the world of information and knowledge and work, especially in our smaller communities where the numbers of 150 computers jumped from 2005-06 to 2010-11 to 450 computers in our schools and there’s really no dedicated IT support for our children or our schools and we are struggling, the communities are struggling, the schools are struggling to find the funding to support the children in their use of the computers in all our five communities in the Sahtu. Is the Minister going to ask his department if there’s a chance that they can put a dedicated budget line item in the future on IT support where we continue to give the money to the health boards and say you go ahead, you decide where you want to spend the money?
Mr. Chair, there are so many needs in our small communities that it’s like putting a piece of bone on the floor and everyone wants to get it. It makes it hard. So will his department look at what kind of dollars it will take to have this type of support in their agreements with the authorities?
We’re talking about the whole Northwest Territories, it’s not just one region. Especially further up north, it’s got its challenges as well. The funding that we provide to the education authorities, we need to work with that. We continue to work closely with the school boards because of our IT services, as well, and have the educational link to the Internet. We are exploring different avenues, as well, Mr. Chair, about our whole fibre optic and Web band and broadband connectivity. So this will be part of the discussion that we could have with other departments as well. Even at the federal level. So we do take note of what the Member is referring to. So this is an area that we could possibly explore and see where it takes us. Mahsi.
Thank you. I look forward to the Minister’s discussion paper or analysis in terms of IT support in our communities. Again, the Minister is somewhat correct in terms of giving the O and M money to the educational boards to decide where the priorities are going to be spent, but when you have 450 computers in the Sahtu region and no IT support to upgrade, to facilitate smooth operations of our computers in our schools, our schools again are hit with a tough decision as to where do they spend the dollars. It’s not fair that these computers are then asked to be brought into our schools to keep in line with the technology of today and for teachers to help the students to learn but there’s no funding to back it. It’s all well said and done, but I’ll look forward to where the Minister can put some serious dollars and say this is what we’re going to do with the computer support in our communities and not ask the education boards to make one less decision as to not having to worry about the computers. They could put money on some other valuable programming and services to the communities. So I hope the Minister can do something in that area. Thank you.
Yes, indeed, there are tough decisions that need to be made by the school boards and also by ECE. Again, it may not be a priority of the board, I don’t know. Because we have to hire teachers, we have to hire subs, we have to hire the staff and do programming for students, those are also priorities as well. So I have to respect the priorities of the school boards, as well, but this is an area that we need to discuss further, as I indicated earlier. Mahsi.
Thank you, Minister Lafferty. Next on my list I have Mr. Krutko.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. My questions are on the cultural organizations and I know that there have been requests put forward to the Minister from the cultural organizations in my riding, asking for an increase in regard to the funding they receive that doesn’t really keep up with the costs of inflation and trying to retain staff. So I’d just like to ask the Minister, have they looked at the possibility of increasing the contributions that are being derived for cultural organizations in the Northwest Territories.
Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Minister Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Chair. The information that I have is 2009, 534 and then 2011-2012, 554. From 534 to 554. So there has been a slight increase and we continue to monitor these and other programs that we offer to the organizations. Mahsi.
Can the Minister tell me if he knows for a fact that there has been an increase in core funding for cultural organizations?
Mr. Chair, the information that I have, I’ll probably have to get that information to the Member. I’m not sure if we have the actual information that the Member is referring to, so we’ll provide that information to the Members. Mahsi.
The other question I have is around the area of official languages and funding in that area in regard to the review that took place and the recommendations that have been put forward to this House. I’d like to know from the Minister and the department are we going to see any increases going forward in regard to the implementation of those recommendations and the proposed changes to the structure and delivery system of the official languages, and more importantly, the language organizations and operation of official languages in the Northwest Territories.
That would fall under the next business planning process. With any recommendations that are brought forward to the attention of this government, obviously there will be incremental costs. So those are the areas that we need to look at and it will be before the House in due time. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty, and I noticed this is mentioned too on the bottom of page 10-17. Sorry, continuing on, Mr. Krutko.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I was looking at 10-18 in regard to the funding sources that are there for Aboriginal language broadcasts, official languages, Aboriginal, French. But again, it’s in the next budget, I guess. We’ll have to wait and see, but I think that because there have been quite a few recommendations put forward, that there are going to be needs for more resources to implement all those recommendations. So it will be good to see exactly what those amounts are, but more importantly, moving on some of those recommendations. So I’ll leave it at that.
Thank you, Mr. Krutko. Just for clarity, I was referring to the $1.1 million additional for official languages mentioned on the bottom of page 10-17. Does the Minister have anything further in response to Mr. Krutko?
Not really, Mr. Chair. Just that it will be part of next year’s budget as well. At the same time, we are implementing some of the recommendations that have been brought to our attention within our existing funding and some of the funding that’s before us in the House here today. So gradually we’re starting to implement those recommendations, but next year will be even a bigger move to include in the overall budget as well. Mahsi.
Thank you, Minister. Thank you, committee. Mr. Yakeleya.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just wanted to ask the Minister if he’s gotten anywhere with the education authorities’ O and M contribution funding to have elders in our schools. I know that’s been a longstanding issue for me. I’m hoping he will give me a good response.
