Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, that is correct, internal reallocation of that funding. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Ms. Green.
Mr. Chair, I am going to go out on a limb and say that the schools are not going to be very happy to know that they are losing $881,000 from one allocation in order to have inclusive schooling funded from that same amount of money. What we had been led to believe is that there was additional money for inclusive schooling available in this budget, and now it seems we have been misled, unless I am missing something. Where is the additional money for inclusive schooling, or isn't there any? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. That $881,000 for inclusive schooling that we had mentioned, when we did put the funding out there for junior kindergarten for funding, we did not get full enrolments of all grades, so there was a surplus of money for that money that the Finance Minister had brought in the last budget. Because we did not get full enrolments in junior kindergarten, that surplus from that money that reallocated for JK, we are using to reallocate internally to fund inclusive schooling. I will go to Mr. Lovely for a bit more clarification. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Lovely.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. As you are aware, there is about $155 million that we provide to education authorities, and that is broken up into administration, territorial schools, inclusive schooling, and Indigenous languages.
A large component of what we provide to the schools is based on the number of students who are enrolled. In any given year, the budgets will vary depending on the enrolment. This past year, we saw enrolments across the education system decrease by 1.8 per cent. Instead of returning that money back into the consolidated revenue fund, we received permission to include that into the inclusive schooling. Rather than seeing the budget go down by $881,000, it maintained itself at that rate. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Lovely. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I understand what the witness had to say there, but what I am concerned about is: if enrolment rebounds over the next school year, where will the money for inclusive schooling come from at that point? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is the first year that we have had the territorial implementation of junior kindergarten throughout the Northwest Territories. We did mention that we were going to continue to monitor and evaluate. Should enrolments rebound, we do go through a business planning process with our operations budget on a yearly basis and have those discussions then. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I would like more certainty around the funding for inclusive schooling. I would like it to be added to the base going forward so that there is certainty that there is money for all grades for inclusive schooling, since it is so critical to their success. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I can confirm that the reallocation of the funding that we have put into inclusive schooling for this year is added to the base. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just to clarify, does that mean that that money is going to be available for every year going forward? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. It is dependent on enrolment. We go through the funding formula when we look at enrolments in the school, so it will be based on enrolments. Thank you.
Thank you. Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, what I have heard from the various meetings we have had with school trustees is that there is a great need for inclusive schooling money in order to diagnose and assist children with learning disabilities as quickly as possible. For that reason, I am going to say that this is an area that needs constant support, that the schools cannot be going up and down according to enrolment each year. They have to have a reliable amount of money for inclusive schooling. To that end, will the Minister consider adding a fixed amount of money for inclusive schooling going forward and/or rework the formula to ensure that there is certainty for school boards? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Currently, we fund inclusive schooling at 15 per cent; sorry, we are legislated at 15 per cent. We are currently funding school boards at 17.3 per cent. We did increase this funding for junior kindergarten with an internal reallocation, and we will look at it on a yeartoyear basis based on enrolments. We did meet with our education leaders, and we did hear the same thing. I think this increase in funding for this year with the first rollout of junior kindergarten is definitely going to help. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Twentythree seconds, Ms. Green.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I am going to just skip over now to funding for busing. I know the Minister has a territorywide committee looking at funding for busing. I'm wondering, if he finds that there is, in fact, a need for more busing, whether he will provide that money in a supplemental in the fall. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Green. Your time has expired, but I will allow the Minister time to respond. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The Member is correct. We are going through a territorialwide survey on busing and transportation in communities across the Northwest Territories. Once we have that report, we will take a look at it. Obviously, it will have to go through Finance. I cannot make that commitment at this time, but we will wait until that report comes out. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Next, I have Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I've got to come back to this inclusive schooling thing so that I can get a clearer understanding of it. The 17.5 per cent is based on kindergarten to grade 12, and with junior kindergarten, you are putting $881,000 into the program. Is this correct? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just for clarification, I am not sure where the 17.5 came from. I did mention that we fund inclusive schooling at 17.3, and that $881,000 is going to inclusive schooling for junior kindergarten. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I thank the Minister for that correction. I apologize. I did say 17.5. I wrote it down wrong.
In the future, is this number going to stay as a base number? I am hearing you say that it is going to be based on enrolment. I know right now you say it's 15 per cent you're legislated. You're at 17.3, plus the $881,000. My first question is: what is the percentage that we are actually putting into inclusive schooling now with $881,000? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think we would have to do a recalculation, since this funding is going in right now, but from now on, moving forward, we will be funding inclusive schooling from JK to 12 and just not K to 12. This internal reallocation that you see before you is part of that, moving forward. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I thank the Minister for that clarification. So are we going to be going to 17.3 per cent from junior kindergarten to grade 12, or is it going to be a different number? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Currently, we are legislated at 15 per cent, and I just got the figure now. It is now at 17.6 per cent that we are funding inclusive schooling for JK to 12. I just got to updated numbers. Previous, before, K to 12 was at 17.3 per cent. It is in legislation. We cannot keep it funded at those rates. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I thank the Minister for that answer. I think probably some of my colleagues are going to have some other questions for that. I am going to go on to my next item here. You heard in my reply to the budget that we talked about new career and academic counselling positions. I have looked through the main estimates, and I am trying to understand. Where is it in this business plan? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. If the Member will turn to page 49, it would be in the labour development and standards. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Thompson.
Okay, so that is into another activity, so I will wait for that question, there. Thank you to the Minister for that clarification. In regard to the budget, on page 41 we saw an increase for early childhood development and learning of $2.695 million, so can the Minister explain what this huge increase is on? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. As you have heard during questions in the House, we do have a funding agreement with the Government of Canada, and that is reflected in that. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Hopefully, this will be my last question on this page here. Has the department broken down this money, how they are going to allocate these funds? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister.
