Thank you, Minister Moses. Mr. Thompson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I thank the Minister for that answer. So could he direct us where the money is being allocated? Because right now, they have Northern Youth Abroad, but there's no money on that line there, but I am assuming that it's in one of these other program areas. Could he just direct us to what area, what line that is in? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister Moses?
Thank you, Mr. Chair. We don't have a committed line item to it. We always try to find the funding within the department to fund the program. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Moses. Mr. Thompson?
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to the Minister for that. I guess for the future, and the Minister is probably aware of this, it's a really good program, and I think we should be identifying the success that the department is having with these non-NGOs. Northern Youth Abroad has a huge, huge impact on our youth, and the Minister has been involved with it previously as a volunteer. So I would like to see it in the business plan or in the main estimates in the future. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Thompson. Minister Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I agree with the Member's comments. Actually, in fact, my counterpart in Nunavut, the Minister of Education, was one of the first participants in the Northern Youth Abroad program. It shows how big of an impact that program has on our youth in NWT and Nunavut. We can consider putting it in as a line item in future main estimates. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Moses. Mr. Simpson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just want to return to the issue that Mr. Thompson raised about the additional streams in schools. Now, I know that in places like Yellowknife, and even in Hay River 20 years ago, when I was in school and there were twice as many students in the high school, having additional courses was viable; but, right now, they're struggling to provide things like core French. You know, core French isn't offered in the high school in Hay River, and students are asking why, you know dash-4 courses aren't offered. Well, it's because there's not that critical mass that makes it feasible to put one of those courses on. I mean, do you, maybe, not buy any toilet paper or any supplies like that for the year, or do you hire a teacher to teach one of these courses? You know, the money is stretched thin and it's not appropriately distributed when it comes to centers like Hay River.
So my concern with these courses is that the department is trying to create; I understand what the department is trying to do, and I know they've been doing this in other places for decades, but I think this is one thing where we need a "made in the North" solution. So I know the department wants to offer these courses, but is it part of a broader plan to reform the system or is it just tacking something onto the current system and hoping it works? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Simpson. Minister Moses?
Thank you, Mr. Chair. We've heard, on numerous occasions, that our current high school graduation requirements are not meeting many of the NWT students; and, therefore, the department has taken it on and is looking at reviewing and working towards revising the current requirements and looking at how we can assist students to create a pathway to graduation, whether it's the trades, whether it's for future post-secondary education, whether it's to get into the career field right away, or even just to get a completion of their high school, but those are discussions that we're going to have as we have those consultations throughout the Northwest Territories on this High School Pathways initiative, and as I mentioned, it is not going to be implemented in the school year until the 2019-2020 academic year. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Moses. Mr. Simpson.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I believe we are coming to the end of the education renewal. I believe that was an initiative over a period of time, and if that is wrapping up and we are trying to do these new things, is there some sort of master plan here? It is getting harder and harder to put these classes on with the way the funding is structured. I mean, the physical school itself in Hay River is not getting any smaller. Even if there are 200 fewer students, they don't need fewer janitors, and it doesn't cost less to heat. If anything, it costs more to heat. There are all of these problems, and we don't seem to be addressing the root problem of this. We just keep tacking more on, expecting the schools to do more without providing them with more. Maybe I will just leave it at that, and I can address this at a different time with the Minister, as well. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Simpson. Did you want to provide comment to that, Minister Moses? Go ahead.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, one of the main objectives of the Educational Renewal process was to improve student outcomes throughout the Northwest Territories. We have had a lot of initiatives in terms of making that happen. We are also looking at system-wide accountability.
As you have heard, we do fund over $150 million to the education authorities. We want to make sure that they are providing the programs, the courses, and services to the students in their respective regions, and we continue to work with our superintendents, our education authorities and board chairs.
It is something that we are continuing to monitor. We have working groups that are involved in a lot of the initiatives that are within the education renewal, and we will continue to work at that. We have a lot of community people who are on these working groups, as well as people with expertise. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Moses. Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just have a question about the contract services line on page 41. It seems to have increased by nearly $1 million. Can we get some clarity on why that is? It is a substantial increase. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Mr. Lovely.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. That was just a reallocation of the ERI budget. We have moved money from contract services and reallocated it into contributions. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Lovely. Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Can we have an explanation of what contract services are, then? I am still a bit confused, and this line seems to have fluctuated quite substantially in previous fiscal years. In the 2016-2017 Actuals, it was $939,000; in the 2017-2018 Main Estimates, it was $5,050,000; and in the Revised Estimates, it was $2,085,000; and again, now we see this increase. Why is there so much volatility in contract services in this activity of the department? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Mr. Lovely.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Each year, as we run through the priorities of the Education Renewal Initiative, how we determine to best provide the support and the programs will determine where the budgets are. For 2016-2017, obviously, you can see it was $939,000. During the course of that year, what we probably saw was that we did not need to do as much work under contract services, and that, instead, we gave more of the money to schools through a separate contribution agreement or that we did it through another venue. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Lovely. Mr. Testart.
Again, I might not have heard clearly the response to my first question, but the $900,000 here, what is that intended for? Is that just a placeholder, and the money will be reallocated if it is not required? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Mr. Lovely.
I'm sorry. I missed the question.
Thank you, Mr. Lovely. Minister Moses.
Just to reiterate what the assistant deputy minister said earlier with our Education Renewal Initiatives, putting funding into certain programs as we go through the process, as I mentioned earlier, we have a lot of initiatives on the go, and providing the financial resources to that shows the fluctuation from year to year. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Moses. Mr. Testart.
Thank you. Just for clarity, then, this increase to the contract services line is in order to support those programs going forward into this year? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Mr. Lovely.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. What you see in 2017-2018 was that we had taken $2.165 million out of contract services and reallocated that to grants and contributions, fees and payments, materials and supplies, purchased services, and travel. That was the reason why that contract services amount goes down to $2.93 million. That 2.1 is being allocated throughout, to better reflect what activities we are going to undertake in 2018-2019. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Lovely. Mr. Testart.
Thank you. Can I get a sense of some examples of what we are contracting out with this money to support these programs? Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Minister Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. What some of this money does entail is it includes the northern counselling services, the northern travelling team that will go out into the communities. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Moses. Mr. Testart.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm sorry if I'm struggling with this amount. I have asked questions about what is presented before us in this budget, and I am hearing a lot of answers about how it was used previously. I understand that this number may change, but I am looking for why the department is requesting an increase of $1 million to this. I think what I am hearing is that, the previous year, it was a considerable amount more and it was redistributed, so they are trying to harmonize it to a degree where they can still support the contract requirements that they think are going to be required for this fiscal year. I will leave it at that, but again, the clarity is helpful once we finally get there. Thanks.
Thank you, Mr. Testart. Did you want to provide a reply to that, Minister Moses?
I will just take it as a comment. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay. Thank you, Minister. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. At the risk of causing mayhem, I do want to thank, though, the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Education and his staff for the information about the reallocation for inclusive schooling. I think the important thing to take away from this is that it is a good thing. There is now going to be extra money for JK students for 2017-2018. We are getting closer to fully funded for -- the Minister is laughing, as I am, too. In 2018-2019, the formulas are going to be changing, and that is the best solution in the long term. It is a good-news story all around.
I had a peek back at the appropriation bill that we passed for the last budget. We just ended up voting on departmental totals. If there are reallocations within a department, that is not a big deal, but the public sees main estimates. We see main estimates, and if there are changes between when the main estimates are printed and when we start to talk about them on the floor of the House, having a document that summarizes those changes would be helpful in avoiding, perhaps, some of the discussion that we had earlier. I understand now what is happening, and I thank the Ministers for their explanation. It is a good-news story, but maybe we can avoid this in the future.
I want to turn to page 41 of the departmental budget. I had the same question as my colleague about the change in contract services, but I want to move to the travel line, which, from 2016-2017, it was $1,037,000. In 2018-2019, it has actually doubled now, more than doubled, so can I have some explanation of why there is a big increase in travel happening over a few years? Thanks, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. We will take your comments to the Finance Minister as notice. Minister Moses, if you can go back to the question provided by Mr. O'Reilly. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Every year, we hold symposiums, conferences for teachers, and that is included in this budget line. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Moses. Mr. O'Reilly.
Thanks, Mr. Chair. So, are there extra events that are happening between 2016-2017 and 2018-2019, or are these cyclical conferences or something? I am just trying to understand why there is a doubling of the travel budget between those years. Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. O'Reilly. Minister Moses.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Like I mentioned, it goes to conferences, training for our education personnel as well as staff and teachers. Just recently with this conference, we had actually brought in our student support staff for the first time, as well as our junior kindergarten teachers. So it is reflective of that, but I do not have a detailed list of all of the upcoming events for this year, if that is what the Member is referring to. Thank you.
