Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of ECE. Mr. Speaker, in his statement today, the Minister said, and I quote, "we will make the money they need to implement junior kindergarten available to them when it is needed." Could the Minister please tell me what the phrase, "when it is needed" means? Thank you.
Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Those discussions, we are having right now with the departments and all the boards. If it is needed this fall, we will make sure that that funding is available, as I mentioned in the statement. We could be coming back for a sup to make sure that funding is available. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Is the Minister aware that hiring and layoff plans need to be in place by the end of March? Money will need to be in place to make those decisions. Is the Minister aware of that?
As I mentioned, staff at the department have been meeting with the superintendents to make sure that it is a smooth transition as we roll out junior kindergarten moving forward. All those are being discussed right now, as I mentioned earlier.
The district education authorities and school boards were looking at making a cut of 3.6 per cent to their budget for the next school year in order to fund junior kindergarten from within. Now the government is fully funding junior kindergarten, will this cut be necessary?
As a government, we fund all our education authorities to the tune of about $152 million. What they do with that money is decisions based on the board. That is something that the board is going to have to make, that decision, moving forward.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I didn't hear an answer to my question. My question is whether the school boards will still be required to use their own resources to implement junior kindergarten as they were required to do prior to the budget being announced last week, including a cut of 3.6 per cent of their K to grade 12 funding. Is this cut still going to be necessary now that full funding for JK is in place? Thank you.
As we have all heard here, this government is committed to fully funding junior kindergarten. The reductions that the Member is asking is a decision on the school boards themselves, and that is something that they are going to have to go back and look at. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
