Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My questions today are addressed to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. I’d like to thank the Minister for tabling the fact sheet yesterday. There’s a lot of information in there. I think there are a few opinions, as well, but I would like to ask him a few questions about some of the statements in those sheets.
On the page that says “What Will JK Cost,” It goes on to say the total cost to offer junior kindergarten is projected to be $7.4 million annually. The cost will be absorbed by education authorities. On another page, the School Funding Framework page, it says, “The school funding formulas used prior year September 30 student enrollments,” and that’s to determine board contributions. But on one of the latter pages it says, “The Yellowknife Catholic schools will receive additional dollars when they implement junior kindergarten in 2016-17 and is actually offering the program, so I’m a little confused, Mr. Speaker. There are a couple of other statements, as well, that are contradictory.
I’d like to ask the Minister will, for instance, the Yellowknife Catholic Schools receive funding for junior kindergarten students in 2016-17 when the students first start, or will they receive that funding a year later when the September 30th enrollments are determined a year after the kids start?
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. This projected information that I tabled in the house, the fact sheets, it lays out every detail of information that is the most accurate between ourselves and the school boards in Yellowknife. Part of the plan, obviously, is the funding that the Member alluded to for 2016-17 will be happening at that time because they will be rolling out their program. The money will be provided to them as is stated in the fact sheets. As well, I believe above and beyond the 16 to 1, we are also contributing additional funding towards that. Mahsi.
To the Minister, thank you. I thought I heard the Minister say the funding will flow when the program first starts. I would appreciate him reconfirming that in his next answer. If that’s the case, that’s great, that’s what it should do, but I have been hearing from more than just the Yellowknife boards that they will not be getting any new dollars, and this is coming from their schools as well. They will not be getting any new dollars for junior kindergarten when it starts, for instance, in this next school year, September 2014-15.
So, Mr. Minister, why am I hearing from schools that there will be no new funding for them to implement junior kindergarten in 2014-15 when, according to the fact sheets, they are supposed to get that money when the program rolls out? Thank you.
Again, the fact package does cover that detailed information. In 2014-15 for YCS, $277,000 will be deducted from YCS budget out of the $7.4 million that we’ve been talking about re-profiling through PTR. In 2015-16 another $467,000 is meant to be deducted from their budget. In 2016-17 another $393,000 estimated to be deducted. So it’s a total of $1.137 million. This reduction will be offset with an increase of $960,000 funding from ECE through formula funding to support implementation of JK, resulting in an overall reduction over three years of $177,000. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
Thanks to the Minister for telling me the information I already know. That’s not my question. My question was I’m hearing that schools will not be getting any new funding when they start junior kindergarten in 2014-15. Why is that, if it’s supposed to be coming?
On another page titled, “How Will We Pay for Junior Kindergarten,” the statement is, “All education authorities are being asked to implement junior kindergarten with existing funding.” That seems to, again, contradict that they will get funding when the program rolls out.
One of the things that are required is resources for new programs, so how much money will a school receive in resources to buy things like sand tables and water tables? How much will each school receive in resources for their Junior Kindergarten Program? Thank you.
I can provide that detailed information at an appropriate time. We must keep in mind that we’re re-profiling the $7.4 million that the Member alluded to earlier. We are still under the PTR as we have been legislated to. I believe, over a 10-year period, there has been an influx of funding that came in to increase the PTR due to the fact of a surplus of funds within the GNWT, which we don’t have right now. Those are just some of the areas we’ve talked about. We’ve been working with the school boards to make that a reality and that’s where we are at today. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final, short supplementary, Ms. Bisaro.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the Minister’s commitment to give me the information on resources, but again, I am hearing that schools will not get funding in 2014-15 when they start the program and I didn’t hear an answer from the Minister on that.
The Minister talks about the pupil-teacher ratio and, yes, we are still under the 16 to 1 pupil-teacher ratio in most cases.
I would like to know from the Minister: What is our current pupil-teacher ratio and once we have implemented junior kindergarten and after all three years, what will our PTR become following the budget cuts and the reallocation of funding? Thank you.
We are re-profiling; we aren’t cutting the budget. So the $7.4 million, as indicated, it is being rolled out to all the school boards to implement junior kindergarten. Those are the areas we have been working with the school boards and we will continue to make that a success. The junior kindergarten has been under discussion through the Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative, Early Childhood Development. This is where we’re at today. We’ve done a lot of research, and research is telling us this is the best way to go. The 16 to 1, at this point we are at 13.8 to 1. When we start implementing the junior kindergarten, we will still be...(inaudible). Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.
