Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, one of the ways that junior kindergarten is different from the rest of the other grades in school is that busing needs to take into account the fact that some of those students are as young as three years, eight months. They're very little. So the school buses need to be equipped with seatbelts and they need to have additional staffing on them. That means the cost of busing children to attend junior kindergarten is going to go up. Will the Minister of Education pay for those extra costs? Thank you.
Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I mentioned, those discussions are happening right now. We're working with the superintendents and the school boards to find out how we address some of those concerns that are being brought forward. We'll wait until we get the results out of that meeting and how things are going to be progressing, and we will give updates to the Members on that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
It's my understanding that the school boards have asked the Minister to fund the busing of the junior kindergarten students. They anticipate that the cost could be up to $500,000 here in Yellowknife to accommodate those new 250 students who are going to be in school. Will the Minister pay for the extra costs of busing?
We did commit to fully funding junior kindergarten this fall. As I've mentioned, we also fund school boards throughout the Northwest Territories over $150 million, and they make the decisions on how those dollars are being allocated and spent as well.
Mr. Speaker, my question at this point is: if funding doesn't include inclusive schooling and busing and funding for Aboriginal activities, then what is the definition of fully funded?
We made the announcement that we're going to be funding the remainder of the communities in the House here. With inclusive schooling, we're still funding inclusive schooling above the legislated percentage that we do. Funding models haven't changed, and we are looking at a revised approach where we are clarifying rules, expectations, and processes with inclusive schooling; but we're still funding it above what we're legislated to do, and that hasn't changed at all.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Yellowknife Centre.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, what we're talking about here is making school systems sustainable, making them friendly to the use of children and to help them to be successful there, and that starts from the time they get picked up at the door to the time they come back again and everything that happens in between. So, once again, I am going to ask if the Minister will include the additional costs of JK as he does with all the other grades when he is having his famous meeting with the superintendents? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The $5.1 million to implement junior kindergarten to the rest of the communities is focused on the operations of junior kindergarten moving forward. We still haven't heard the results of what the decision or some of the discussions that have been going on, and also I've got to let the Member know that junior kindergarten is going to be optional for families. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
