Okay, thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Monfwi.
(audio) section. Thank you.
You're good? Okay. Thank you. Is there any other Members? I'm going to go to the Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I wanted to start by just following up on my colleague's line of questioning from Great Slave on the school-based mental health counsellors.
So can the Minister confirm, is the program now set -- I know there was a lot of changes, a lot flux happening for a while because it was changed rather suddenly at the beginning of a school year -- I guess it was probably the beginning of the school year for 2023-2024, and so there was a lot of kind of not knowing what it was going to look like next, how it was all going to shake out. Is it fully shaken out now? Is it like what we see now is what we're going to get for school-based mental health counsellors, or is it still a work in progress? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. Go to the Minister.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, the program is settling in to where it's at right now but as I explained as well to the Member for Great Slave, I think it's important that we always have a dialogue with education bodies to understand how the program is rolling out. Thank you.
Okay, thank you. Go back to the Member from Yellowknife North.
Okay, thank you for that. And we can follow up further at a later time about that program.
But I also wanted to talk about the line item for the teachers' association, NWTTA professional improvement. Looks like there's a tiny decrease in that, and I wondered if the Minister can explain whether there have been any reductions related to NWTTA professional development or improvement? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So this line item here, there's no reductions. It's related to -- sorry, student enrolment, I believe, and -- but there's no reductions in it.
Thank you. I just wanted to add to that. It is tied, though, to teacher salaries. And so if, say, a teacher has more years of experience then they would be in a higher salary grid, and so that would see some fluctuation there.
Okay, thank you. I'm going to go back to the Member from Yellowknife North.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Now, I'd heard directly from the teachers' association that they were concerned about ECE kind of whittling away at professional development and mentorship opportunities for teachers. And I'm not sure exactly where that might show up in this budget but they mentioned, for example, the New to the North orientation. So teachers that are coming up here and new to the North, they got a more sort of in-depth orientation to the North and helped them get settled in which would be good for the teachers themselves to have a welcome -- a warm welcome and also really good for communities that they might become based in for them to have a better orientation and sense of the North and its history and its people.
Another one mentioned was the education leadership program. Specifically, that's for principals and that being whittled down.
And they also mentioned that the mentorship program for new teachers or teachers who are just starting out in their careers as being whittled away so that the program no longer pays for substitute teachers, so they have to kind of do it on their own time.
Can the Minister speak to any of those kind of reductions in opportunities for teacher professional development. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, for that level of detail and to be able to kind of give the Member a really robust response, I'd like to pass to the assistant deputy minister, please.
Thank you. I'll go to ADM.
Thank you. For that mentorship, that was always internally within ECE. It doesn't have a specific budget line. And we did see reductions from the portion of the budget through fiscal sustainability that did fund that particular program. That said, we do continue to provide some funding to education bodies but, ultimately, they -- it is the money that is awarded to them through the specifics of the collective agreement. So it's only the departmental reduction that has taken place. What that means, though, is that education bodies then have a bit more autonomy in how they are supporting new teachers in that mentorship approach in line with the budgets that they have available at the regional level. They can still use various professional development days for closures, strengthening teacher, instructional practice, school closed days for students as well. Those are all available options that education bodies are sometimes accessing to ensure that there's noncontact or noninstructional time when new teachers are able to work with their mentoring more experienced teacher.
The New to the North educators conference is the conference that typically was done in person to support new hires who were typically coming into the NWT from outside of our jurisdiction. The budget for that was -- did sunset due to the particular education renewal initiative is where that was funded through, and that money did sunset. However, we do acknowledge that that is a fairly valuable experience and are currently looking at how to possibly pivot to provide that through a virtual mechanism in some way that is meaningful. That is also true of the education leadership program which is a requirement in our Act for NWT principals, and that program continues to be offered through a hybrid approach of in person and online. Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Yellowknife North.
Okay, thank you, Mr. Chair. It does seem like this is a common theme of switching, where possible, in-person programs and opportunities to online and, you know, there's a bigger debate to be had there. I know that we do need to save on travel costs, which are getting increasingly expensive, but that some things, they're -- it's hard to replace the value of face-to-face interactions, especially when people are just meeting each other for the first time.
So thanks for that information, though. I wanted to ask about the northern distance learning under grants and contributions. It looks like this has been implemented in partnership with the Beaufort Delta Division Educational Council. And I know the money being offered is the same as last year but it looks like there was a significant cut from the year before, from 2023-2024. Can the Minister explain whether -- like, what happened between 2023-2024 to lead to that reduction and why that's sort of being maintained. Was something exceptional happening in 2023 that required the increase in funding, or are we just doing the program at a lower scale now indefinitely? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So Mr. Chair, there's a few things within that line item. The first is a sunset of funding through the education renewal and innovation funding. And then there is also -- sorry, cost savings that we realized through a change in the technology platform that we're using. And then we also, just in similar to the conversation we've just had about teachers, there was a bridging experience program that was part of this, and that there was also rolled back to a virtual experience in order to try and really extend our dollars as far as possible.
Thank you. I'm going to go back to the Member from Yellowknife North.
Okay, thanks to the Minister for that explanation.
Next I'm wondering what is happening -- if she can similarly explain what's happened with minority language education and instruction. Again, I understand that the amount for this year is the same as last year but, again, there was a reduction from the previous year, so I'm just wondering where that program is at. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I'm just pulling this up here, so Mr. Chair, the actuals were higher because of the sunset of complementary funding from the Canada-NWT cooperation agreement on minority language education and second official language instruction. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Yellowknife North.
Okay, I can leave that for now. And just, finally, under the JK to 12 education system services, it's still hard to understand why there's such big fluctuations in that number. Like, 2023-2024 was over $10 million. Now we're looking at $4.8 million. It was $6.5 million last year. Is this due to changes in enrolments, like school funding formula, or can the Minister try to explain better why there's such big fluctuations in that line item. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Okay, thank you. I'm going to go to the Minister.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Chair, there is quite a significant number that's under the actuals that's not reflected in the following years. And so what we're seeing there, and the reason that the subsequent numbers are so different, is there is $2 million -- sorry, lowered by $2 million due to sunset of education renewal and innovation funding. And then there's also fiscal sustainability reductions, and those fiscal sustainability reductions were what I was referring to with that switch to virtual training. And then there's -- there was also a significant overspend in that year due to unfunded litigation costs. So we do, once in a while within the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, go to court. There's also some teacher certification rulings as well as unfunded position costs as well associated and involved in that actual figure. Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I move that the chair rise and report progress.
Sorry, I just want to read in the section and I'll come back to you in a second.
No further questions, please turn to page 45. Education, Culture and Employment, education, operations expenditure summary, 2025-2026 Main Estimates, $250,985,000. Does the committee agree?
Agreed.
Okay, thank you. I'm going to go to the Member from Inuvik Boot Lake.
Thank you again, Mr. Chair. I move that the chair rise and report progress. Thank you.
Okay. There is a motion on the floor to report progress. The motion is in order and non-debatable. All those in favour? All those opposed? Motion carried.
---Carried
I will now rise and report progress.
Sergeant-at-Arms, please escort the witnesses out of the chamber. Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, your committee has been considering Tabled Document 275-20(1) and would like to report progress. And Mr. Speaker, I move the Report of the Committee of the Whole be concurred with. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Tu Nedhe-Wiliideh. Can I have a seconder? Member from Frame Lake. All in favour? Opposed? Abstentions?
---Carried
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Orders of the day for Tuesday, February 25th, 2025, at 1:30 p.m.
Prayer or Reflection
Ministers’ Statements
Members’ Statements
Recognition of Visitors in the Gallery
Replies to the Budget Address (Day 7 of 7)
Reports of Committees on the Review of Bills
Reports of Standing and Special Committees
Returns to Oral Questions
Oral Question 475-20(1), Budgeting Process for Northwest Territories Health and Social Services Authority
Acknowledgements
Oral Questions
Written Questions
Returns to Written Questions
Replies to the Commissioner’s Address
Petitions
Tabling of Documents
Notices of Motion
Motions
Notices of Motion for First Reading of Bills
First Reading of Bills
Second Reading of Bills
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Bill 12, Business Day Statute Law Amendment Act
Tabled Document 275-20(1), 2025-2026 Main Estimates
Report of Committee of the Whole
Third Reading of Bills
Orders of the Day
Thank you, Mr. Clerk. This House stands adjourned until Tuesday, February 25th, 2025, at 1:30 p.m.
---ADJOURNMENT
The House adjourned at 7:41 p.m.
