Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are addressed to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. I want to ask some questions about the inclusive schooling funding formula. The Minister has heard Members talk about the problems with the inclusive schooling formula and the way that inclusive schooling is provided. Boards are underfunded, many of them, and the formula basically is not working. I think the current percentage applied across the board to our education authorities is inappropriate.
I would like to ask the Minister initially, what does the department do to evaluate how the education boards or authorities spend their inclusive schooling money? What do the boards provide to the department in terms of accountability? What do they provide to the department to account for their inclusive schooling money spending?
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. The inclusive schooling is an area that is currently under review. Based on the information we’ve received from the general public, most specifically, of course, from the Northwest Territories, we need to provide or enhance our programming. Right now we spend well over $26 million in this area. In return I think we can do better. That’s the whole area where the reporting mechanism and the framework itself we are exploring through the education renewal process. Part of that includes the schooling review. There is a reporting mechanism in place for the school boards on an annual basis, but in my view, that’s not enough. It doesn’t tell us how many special needs students there are within the system. Those are areas we are continuing to explore and we want to enhance and improve in those areas.
Thanks to the Minister for that response. I’m really glad to hear that the formula is under review. I think the Minister has mentioned that a number of times last week.
Some NWT communities, especially Yellowknife, tend to attract special needs students, families with kids with special needs, and they seem to come here because we have facilities and services here that aren’t available in smaller communities. I’d like to know from the Minister how the department’s inclusive schooling funding formula recognizes the extra financial burden that is borne by magnet community schools.
The current formula funding is based on enrolment. That is the whole reason we are currently reviewing it. We want to make those changes because we have been told that it doesn’t reflect student needs or doesn’t do much in the area where we haven’t identified special needs. Based on the feedback that we’ve been receiving, and even through the early childhood development, the stakeholders, the three experts spoke to us, and in general and as well as in their research and studies and also the elders have told us that we need to re-emphasize and put that as a priority within our department and that’s what we’re doing. We are currently reviewing that actual programming and funding that’s attached to it, developing the framework itself how the reporting mechanism should be strengthened and tied to those key areas.
Thanks to the Minister for that response. I appreciate, and gather from his response, we don’t currently have anything that recognizes sort of magnet community schools and the needs that they have. I’m really pleased to hear that that is something that the department is considering.
Similar to that, some schools obviously end up with more special needs students than others. Some end up with students with much higher needs than others. That ends up putting an extra financial burden on either a board or a school.
I’d like to know from the Minister if, at this point in time, our funding formula provides any flexibility, if there is any flexibility within the formula to give more money to one board or one school over another because of their extra special high number of needs students.
Those are discussions that we’ll take into consideration as part of the overall plan once we engage the general public on the review itself. The Member is correct that there are certain schools, certain funding may not be enough. Also, there are some schools that do not have equipment, such as small communities, isolated communities. Those are the factors we need to seriously look at. Based on enrolment does capture all schools. The review is before us and we want to make those changes that will reflect on what’s been said, what’s been heard around the Northwest Territories from the parents, from the experts, even from the professionals. Those are the areas that have been stressed to us as my department and we took those into consideration as we move forward.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thanks to the Minister. I appreciate that we’re going to have all these various and sundry factors looked at. I think it is high time.
This formula hasn’t been working for quite a while. I’d like to know from the Minister if he can give us any kind of idea when the formula will be revised and when we can see an implementation of a new revised formula. Will it be at the start of the school year for 2013-2014?
As you know, the overall review of education renewal is very complex and comprehensive. We want to reach out to every single individual out there that we possibly can in the Northwest Territories to hear them out. Our target date, of course, is late fall/early winter. That is the target date right now. We are working towards that and we want it completed by then.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.
