Recognizing Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, just because we are under the section who has the director, I would just like to ask the Minister what type of process has this department used to ensure that when there are new hires coming into the department, not necessarily into the authorities, but to the department, that the Affirmative Action Policy is being followed. Thank you.
Mr. Minister.
Thank you. Any hiring that we do, we make sure we go through the correct processes. I would say with our department too, we also utilize the regional recruitment program very well. People that we recognize that can move up into more senior positions get the training dollars to get into those direct appointments, and affirmative action is always looked at when we do our hiring. I don't have the full numbers now, but I know what's come by my desk. We have seen a lot of our Aboriginal Indigenous employees getting into higher positions through that regional recruitment program, very successful program.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, that was the response I was looking for. I just wanted to indicate that with the departments that we are reviewing, because there is information out there on the various ways that the departments go about hiring people into the department. I just wanted to confirm for the record that this department follows the Affirmative Action Policy all the time. Each hire that comes into Education, Culture and Employment, so there is never a situation where individuals would just be hired without going through a process that is the affirmative action program that the Department of Human Resources is involved in. This is what I was hoping to achieve, so I have the right response. Thank you.
Thanks, Mr. Beaulieu. Mr. Minister, addition?
We will just take it as a comment and continue to do the right type of practices when we are hiring, and utilizing the Regional Recruitment Program moving forward as well.
Thank you, Mr. Minister.
Mr. Thompson.
Thank you. Just in regard to Affirmative Action Policy and practice, I'm a little confused with terms and when people are getting term positions within the system and they are able to be hired without going through another… I don't want to call it direct appointment, but moved into positions within the education system. Could the Minister explain the process and how that works? Thank you.
Thanks, Mr. Thompson. Mr. Minister.
I did mention the Regional Recruitment Program, a very successful program, that we look at employees that can move up into a higher position, get paid a little bit more. I believe they get 80 per cent of the salary, and then the other percent goes to training, but if that was what the Member was asking, or else there was something more specific, I just ask him to provide a little bit more detail, and we can see in terms of the direct appointments. We have gone through some more regional recruitments. Where the directors and managers actually recognize the employees that have been there for a while, and they feel can take more responsibility and leadership roles within the department, but if it's with something other than that, something more specific, I will ask if the Member can just get a little bit more detail. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Thompson.
Mr. Chair, I think I am a little ahead on the schedule. This is corporate management. I can look at the policy and I guess I will deal with the regional education authorities and stuff like that. Thanks, Mr. Minister, for that answer, and I have actually seen some of that work done in our region, so I thank the department for doing that and continue to support doing that. In regards to contract services, I noticed a huge decrease in the budget. What's the rationale for that? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Mr. Minister.
I will go to our assistant deputy minister, Mr. Lovely, please.
Recognizing Mr. Lovely. Go ahead, Mr. Minister.
Yes, just looking for the details on this one, but we will go to our deputy minister to provide a little bit of detail. Thank you.
Recognizing Mr. Stewart.
Thanks, Mr. Chairman. I think in terms of the corporate management contract services, that is primarily related to the student information system that the ADM was speaking of earlier. There's been some purchases that had to take place under that in terms of both software and those types of things to get the new information system in place. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Stewart. Mr. Thompson.
I'm just looking at that line, and looked at actuals of 2014-15; then I look at what the revised numbers were in 2015-16. It concerns me that we are setting ourselves up for a supplementary later on. Can the Minister or deputy minister confirm that this won't be occurring, that this is just some information system that they're talking about and it won't be coming back to the House later on? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thanks, Mr. Thompson. Mr. Minister.
Yes. I think the Member has said it right. It was onetime costs on the information systems, so I don't think we'll be coming back for a supplementary on this one here. Thank you.
Thanks, Mr. Minister. Mr. Thompson.
I guess can the Minister, deputy minister, explain how long it took to implement the system, because when I look at the actuals, it's $1.146 million, and the revised budget for 2015-16 is $1.143 million, so it was a $3,000 reduction compared to the year before, but it is what the main estimate was: $747,000. It was almost a $400,000 increase. It concerns me that there was a revised budget, and they had revised estimates later on. Could they explain if it was a process this system is now done and it was over two years, or what is that contract services all about then? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thanks, Mr. Thompson. Recognizing Deputy Minister Stewart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. That early work in 201415 and into 201516 was really getting the system in place. It is there now. Now, we are into the stage of some level of customization and those sorts of things that the boards wants to see in terms of being able to report out attendance and making sure that the report cards are being generated and all of that sort of stuff. I think we are at a much more manageable phase now where the pace is more controllable in terms of making sure that we don't need to make those big onetime expenditures. I think we are pretty confident that we will not have to see the kind of increase that you saw earlier, that we will be able to do it within that $887,000 overall budget for contract services. The main implementation is already in place, and now we are just tweaking the system, so to speak. Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Stewart. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you. I thank the deputy minister for that answer. It cleared up a lot.
Now, I'm hoping I heard this correctly. Is this the system for the whole NWT, for all education boards including the Catholic board and the French board? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Mr. Minister.
Yes, that is correct, and the program is called PowerSchool. Thank you.
Minister. Mr. Thompson, nothing further? Any further questions? I see none. Education, Culture, and Employment, corporate management, operations expenditure summary, activity total, $12,309,000. Agreed?
Agreed.
Page number 54, Education, Culture and Employment, corporate management, active positions, information item. Any questions? I see none. Agreed?
Agreed
Page 56, Education, Culture and Employment, education and culture, operations expenditure summary, activity total, $206,243,000. Questions? Go ahead, Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Can the Minister explain how his budget was developed? I am sitting here looking. There are increases and decreases throughout this page here, and it doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason, but I know that the department has done a good job of preparing it. I just need to understand how they did it. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thanks, Mr. Thompson. Mr. Minister.
Obviously, when we go through it, it is our biggest budget, working with organizations in terms of what they have spent in the last year, and then what we think they will be spending. A lot of things are taken into consideration: forced growth, the reductions, but we do consult with our education authorities as well as other organizations that we do fund, and that is how we usually come to our budget. We do have a fixed number and all our educational authorities when they are working out their budgets, they got to try to make sure they get within the fixed budget. I will go to my deputy minister for further detail on how we come to this $206 million. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. Deputy Minister Stewart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. There are a lot of big pieces in this overall sort of area of education and culture. A couple of the ones I will note are the changes in early childhood program funding in terms of the subsidy adjustments that we are making is reflected in this budget. There are changes in terms of the funding of the education renewal initiative in that you see under some of the items here. There is some portion that is collective bargaining increases under the NWTTA which was the last portion in this first quarter of this year. There are also tweaks that were done around the Aboriginal Languages Secretariat, and so there's a lot of moving parts in this section, so I appreciate the Member's comment that there seems to be lots of moving around, but a big portion of this, as the Minister mentioned, is also the schools funding. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Stewart. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you. Mr. Chair, when we are looking at inclusive schooling, it has gone up by about $100,000, but I have heard the deputy minister talk about this being important and how it is going to be making it better for the students and that. They seem to have big plans. I am just trying to figure out how those plans actually meet this budget when we are only talking $105,000 increase, when in reality, the work that you guys seem to be talking about seems to be huge in nature. Can you please elaborate? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Mr. Minister.
With the inclusive schooling in the past, money was given to the schools, and they took that money and used it how they wanted to. We are giving a directive now to all the education authorities to ensure that funding is going to be used for students with special needs. We are actually developing an accountability framework around that as well, ensuring that the dollars we give as a department are actually being utilized and used for what it was meant to be used for. Even though there is not a big increase in inclusive schooling, the way we are going to be funding it, we are going to be getting more PSTs, program support teachers, into the schools and also making sure that the dollars actually reflect where we want those dollars to be spent, and that is with students with special needs. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Minister. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I thank the Minister and the department for doing this. I guess I am still struggling with the amount of money. It is only an increase of $105,000 if my calculations are correct, from the mains revised from last time. To me, it is important. I think we need to be doing it. It is probably one of our struggles and why we have some challenges in meeting national standards in our education. Are you guys going to be monitoring this and seeing if there is going to be a need for increase with the PSTs and actually go on a needs basis? What I mean by that is: do some research in the schools and see how many students require a PST for help. In one of my communities, one PST teacher in a classroom doesn't meet the needs when you have three or four students who have challenges. I don't call them disabilities. They have some challenges with learning. Will you be monitoring that to be making it more effective? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Mr. Minister.
