Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I was asking the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment about junior kindergarten. With the Finance Minister talking about the program being fully funded, can the Minister please clarify in this House, because I have received numerous phone calls from teachers -- this is for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment -- when are we getting the full funding for junior kindergarten? Is it this fiscal year for the budget or is it going to be next year, fiscal budget, or by the end of this term? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. After the announcement yesterday, staff at the department is going to be contacting all the superintendents of all the boards. Once we get those initial discussions completed, I myself will have a meeting with all the board chairs to look at how we are going to be allocating this additional funding throughout the schools in the Northwest Territories. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I appreciate the Minister's answer. I guess my question, though, is: is it going to be funded by the end of this fiscal term or this fiscal year, next fiscal year, or by the end of our term? In the Finance Minister's statement there was $2.7 million by the end of this term. I am just trying to get it clarified because I have had a number of parents and teachers phone going, "Great, we are fully funding junior kindergarten." I am going, "Have to confirm."
Yes, it is great news, and I am glad the Member is getting calls because it has been quite the announcement that we made yesterday. As I mentioned, our department is working with all the superintendents and the education authorities to look at how we are going to be allocating this additional funding. I can't give him a timeline until we have those discussions with the superintendents and then the board chairs.
I thank the Minister for his answer. I understand he has to work with the school boards and the superintendents in that area. My big concern is: are we implementing junior kindergarten next fiscal year for all the schools in the Northwest Territories?
Good question.
As I have said many times in this House, it is going to be implemented in all the schools in the Northwest Territories in the 2017-18 school year, not next fiscal year.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Minister for that clarification. I guess my concern is that, if we are funding this completely, where is this money going to be coming from to implement junior kindergarten? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
As I mentioned, Mr. Speaker, we are going to have to have those discussions with the superintendent and the board chairs. When we first initially rolled out junior kindergarten, as you know, 23 communities did the uptake, and some of them couldn't do it because they didn't have any four-year-olds. That is going to reflect the operational costs as we fund junior kindergarten moving forward. Those initial discussions have to happen before we can look at how we are going to be using that additional funding that was announced yesterday in the budget. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
