Marci cho, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my Member's statement I talked about the funding for junior kindergarten. I'd like to ask the Minister questions along those lines. The Minister said that junior kindergarten is fully funded, but we keep hearing from the boards and that that there is no inclusion of inclusive schooling or Aboriginal instruction with the four-year-olds who are going into junior kindergarten. So I'd just like to ask the Minister what "fully funded" means? Thank you.
Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. During the Budget Address this government did commit to fully funding junior kindergarten, and based on questions around inclusive schooling, Aboriginal language culture-based education, as the Member has mentioned. Our department continues to name those funding levels. So inclusive schooling is self-funded. What we are funding, it is actually above what we are legislated to do. The Aboriginal culture-based education, we are continuing to fund those as well. When we are talking about the implementation of junior kindergarten, we took into consideration a new funding model that included student enrolments, staff complements, teacher salaries, as well as some of the changes that we have done through the Ministerial Directive on Inclusive Schooling that has since changed since we first initially wanted to do the implementation of junior kindergarten to where we are now. There has been a lot of research and a lot of work done to get this moved to this point. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Can the Minister tell the House what the original budget for junior kindergarten was when it was first budgeted? What was the original budget when the plan to roll out junior kindergarten was first hatched?
That goes back to the 17th Legislative Assembly. I don't have that initial detail, but I can get that number for the Member and get back to him.
The Minister explained inclusive schooling and the funding levels as per the NWT Ministerial Directive on Inclusive Schooling. I think it was indicated that 15 per cent would be the amount for inclusive schooling. Education is funding at 17 per cent. Having said that, I think that, even if we fund junior kindergarten at 15 per cent, it would still be fairly significant. My understanding is that the original budget was over $7 million, if not higher. If you just calculate 15 per cent on that, that seems to be -- I am not understanding how the fact that they are funding K to 12 at a level higher than the directive has any positive impact on the funding of junior kindergarten. I am asking again if the Minister can tell us what the funding level includes, not the fact that they are funding over, but what does it include when you add the junior kindergarten students into that school system in NWT?
The money that was allocated during this government to implement junior kindergarten was $5.1 million. We are currently working with education boards to see how we are going to roll that out with the enrolments of students and families putting their four-year-olds into the school system. Junior kindergarten itself will not have an impact on inclusive schooling. As we mentioned before, the four-year-olds will be in the school system, so they will have access to extra resources, extra supports throughout the entire school.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I was hoping to clarify the funding model for junior kindergarten, but I think people listening to this will just be more confused. I don't understand how we could exclude something and then still indicate that it is funded. The greatest bang for the buck that education could spend would be on the youngest students that we have. If we are excluding inclusive schooling, if we are excluding Aboriginal language, among other things -- my understanding is money was taken out of education renewal to fund some of the junior kindergarten. My question is, originally, when junior kindergarten was rolled out or portions of junior kindergarten, about $2 million was needed in order to roll out the first portion of junior kindergarten. Is that $2 million no longer considered to be part of the funding of junior kindergarten? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. That money helped roll out junior kindergarten to 20 of our 33 communities across the Northwest Territories and is an ongoing funding that we are moving forward with. It is the same with the new dollars that are coming through. As we roll out junior kindergarten, it will be funding that will be provided to our education authorities. With inclusive schooling, it seems like it is a concern of the Member. We also work with the Department of Health and Social Services to provide a range of programs and services to diagnose and support children with disabilities and developmental needs. We are very flexible with a wraparound model to help support children and youth with complex needs in the years when they enter the school, transitioning into the high school, and throughout their school careers.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
