Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are addressed to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. I want to follow up on my statement and some of the questions asked by Mr. Dolynny yesterday. In this fiscal year, 2014-2015, budgets to all education authorities were reduced to a certain extent in order to fund the start of Junior Kindergarten. That funding apparently was to go help the 23 schools that are offering Junior Kindergarten this year to get their program in place.
So I would like to ask the Minister first off, why, if these programs are operational and we have funding for the boards in this current budget year, why does the department need to do further budget reductions in the 2015-16 year to fund a program that is fully operational?
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Minister of Education, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. That decision was made by this government to proceed to deliver to the 23 communities based on a two-year commitment that’s been made as part of the agreement that was agreed to by this government. So this year and next year the funding allocated will continue through those two areas. We will continue to work with the 23 communities. Based on the review, we will have to decide next year how it’s going to look and continue with the delivery to 23 communities in 2015-16 as well. Mahsi.
I really don’t understand why we need to take more money in 2015-16 to fund a program that is apparently a program that is operational. so I may come back to that.
Small schools have a lower pupil-teacher ratio than do the larger schools. I referenced that in my statement. They need different treatment, and I accept that. Smaller schools have a smaller number of students. They, therefore, need a certain number of teachers to get their programs going. ECE has a small schools funding formula and it is specifically to assist small schools to give them money for their special needs and to account for their smallness.
Why is it that in addition to the small school funding formula, small schools with less than 120 students are exempted from any budget reductions by their education authority? Why are these guys double dipping? Thank you.
As the Member indicated, small schools are treated differently based on their special needs. The Early Development Instrument tells us that over 60 percent of those individuals, five-year-olds, are developmentally challenged when they enter the school system. Those are from mostly remote communities. Those are true facts and the numbers we are currently working with.
We are going through discussions on the formula, as well, through Education Renewal and Innovation, thinking in the long term, Mr. Speaker. There are other programs, as well, such as Inclusive Schooling and PTR. Those are areas we will continue to work with. Mahsi.
Thanks to the Minister. The Premier yesterday stated, in answer to one of my questions, “we will be re-profiling from all authorities.” He was referencing the money that is being used for Junior Kindergarten, that it’s coming from all authorities. So, if it’s coming from all authorities, I’d like to say that 20 of our 49 schools are currently, give or take, less than 120 students. That’s almost half of our schools, Mr. Speaker.
Can the Minister explain the fairness of having small schools exempted from the budget reductions and, at the same time, receiving the small schools funding formula? Thank you.
We are currently contributing upwards of $150 million to all the school boards so they can deliver the most cost-effective, efficient program delivery K to 12. We’re currently delivering Junior Kindergarten in 23 of our communities and it’s just a fraction of 0.01 percent of that. It is a public fund, so we need to have the best program delivery in the Northwest Territories.
This is an area that we will continue to push forward with 23 communities based on the EDI, the results that came in. What is before us is we are going to be re-evaluating our situation, our stance, and review the whole Junior Kindergarten program in 23 communities. That is where we are at in the coming months, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final, short supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. To the Minister, since I didn’t get an explanation as to whether it’s fair, I have to assume that it’s unfair and he can’t explain it.
My last question to the Minister is: We’ve heard many times that our legislated pupil-teacher ratio is 16 to 1. I have said that definitely we do not have 16 to 1 in all our schools. I would like to know from the department if we are intending to bring our funding down to 16 to 1, how does he intend to implement this 16 to 1 pupil-teacher ratio, particularly in small schools where some of them are 9 to 1 and some are 4 to 1. So, how is he going to implement 16 to 1 so that it is fair? Will there be a PTR cap, for instance, in small schools? How is it going to happen? Thank you.
Currently we are legislated at 16 to 1. We are providing over and above that, $17 million to our schools boards to deal with those matters at hand. We are currently, as I stated, and the Premier also committed to this House, that we are reviewing the 23 Junior Kindergarten communities, and based on the review, the funding has been highlighted as well.
I did speak to it this morning as well. There will be a mixture of discussions, whether it be the funding, reaching out to operators, and we need to hear their perspective and input to have the delivery of Junior Kindergarten in these communities. Those are the discussions that we are going to be having. We’ve committed to this House already. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.
