Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have questions for the Minister of Education, considering that early childhood development is a very important way of doing business. I think that the numbers are that the government will save $7 to $10 on every dollar spent today of future money that could be spent on that particular youth or child.
I would like to ask the Minister a question about attendance. My understanding of attendance in junior kindergarten and kindergarten is that, initially, step one is that the students will decide whether or not they are going to attend. It is not compulsory that they attend. Step two is they do enrol, and they do attend, but they are not treated like the other students. Even if they are enrolled in junior kindergarten and kindergarten, they don't have to attend. Is that correct? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. In all fairness, I mean, we try to get all children into programming, because the greater the chance of success, actually, if you do have early childhood intervention. The act is pretty clear, though. In 12(1) of the Education Act, it states that a child who is six or under -- and I am going to paraphrase a bit, because I have summarized this from the act, but that is the section. It might not be the exact. Children who are older than six and under 16, the act is very explicit, shall register for school. Then 19(3) says children may register if they are under that age.
What that says is that it is compulsory for children who are between six and 16 to register for school. Children who are outside of that age, under six or over 16, may, but they don't have to. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
There is no requirement for anyone under six to register, but my question is: if they choose to register at four and five, at that point, the registration is out of the way, are they treated like all other students insofar as attendance goes?
The act in section 27(1), again, I am going to paraphrase because I didn't write it all down. It says that children who are between the ages of six and 16 shall attend, and actually, there is a financial penalty if they don't attend. I believe it is $100; we don't want to make students afraid of school. It says that the parents shall ensure that the child attends, as well. Under that, there is nothing that says that they have to; so, no, children under six or over 16, it does not say that they shall attend.
I am still not clear on, once the person does register, whether or not they have to attend school. I am going to ask the question a little bit differently. How does the funding work? If you have students who are JK and K in your school, I am assuming that it is a per capita funding for students. How does that work? If they register, but don't attend, are they counted in the funding?
The calculation of the funding for JK and kindergarten is the same, when it comes to people in seats, as the older grades, grade 1 to grade 12, and that is any child who is registered by the end of the beginning of the school year, end of September, I believe, that school or that school board or authority is provided funding for that child seat for the whole year. The calculation is done once a year at the end of September, and it carries forward through, and then it is done again at the next school year. Any child who moves in between there, if they register and they decide to drop out, or they don't attend regularly, that counts as actually still paid for that child to be there. It isn't a jeopardy for the schools, if the child does attend or not.
In saying that, though, I have made a commitment to look at the funding formula, do a complete review of it, and those things will be taken into consideration.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, assuming that the education system is beginning to engage students who are four and five years old, I'd like to ask the Minister if students four and five years old who don't register need to have a viable alternative?
No, at this point, I don't believe. I mean there could be other acts that I'm not aware of, but I do not believe, personally, that there is any act or law that says that a child that is not enrolled in junior kindergarten or kindergarten has to have a viable option. In fact, within our Income Support Program, one of our productive choices says that, if you're parenting a child under three, you can actually stay home with that child, because lots of research shows that the best early childhood development for a child is to actually have their family around and their parents, ideally, with supports. No, there isn't a requirement that, if your child is not in junior kindergarten, you have to have something else. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Frame Lake.
