Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my question will be directed to the Minister responsible for Education. Can the Minister inform this House as to what level of funding the education boards will be receiving this upcoming year? I know there is some difficulty in getting information from previous years and preparing that information, but we are well into the ending of another school year and preparing for a future year coming up. I would like to know if the Minister has available and will make available to the Members of this House, the funding levels going out to the education boards? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, for the 1997/98 academic year, the budget for school contributions is about $139 million or approximately half of this department's total budget. We are working with our partners in education across the Northwest Territories, the divisional education councils, to determine an appropriate funding formula for all divisional education councils and district education authorities. Part of the problem we have with determining the formula is the total amount of money is not growing each year - in other words our business plan has had to include virtually the same amount of money for the three years reflected in the business plan.

The formula has to reflect what the actual enrolment is next year because that $139 million has to suffice no matter what the school population is in each of the divisional education councils come September, 1997. As recently as March of this year representatives from the divisional education councils have come to work with representatives from the department to discuss changes to the formula. All of the boards, as we used to call them, or divisional education councils have a pretty good idea as to what they are going to see next year. The final number has to reflect somewhat the growth in school populations.

There have been some recommended changes from this working group which last met in March that we are going to implement for 97/98 and I would expect the figures should be relatively firm within the next couple of weeks. As I have said, most of the boards have a pretty good idea of what they will receive this year. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I have mentioned earlier that information flow seems to be a difficult one when it is not clear exactly what is happening and rumours start spreading quite rapidly as to what kind of reductions there are going to be, or if we are losing more teachers. Knowing the funding is staying at the same amount, I guess my question would be if the funding amount is not changing, although the student enrolment might be increasing, why would we then be losing any teachers? I guess my question would be in this reworking of the formula has it been taking away from funding of four teachers and putting it in something else? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. One thing that is important to make clear is that the funding that this government provides to divisional education councils is, in effect, block funding. The formula allocation says that a certain amount is for transportation, a certain amount is for special needs students. The boards themselves have the opportunity to move those monies around as best suits their needs, so they are not tied to whatever the formula says. They can change the pupil/ teacher ratio to put money into transportation, for instance, if they chose to do that. So, the boards themselves get to determine how the monies are allocated.

The funding formula is only how we as a department come up with the allocations for the boards. Why would that affect the numbers of teachers? In some regions, the population is not growing as quickly as it is in others. So, some boards will see an increase in the amount of funding they receive, others will see a decrease because the numbers of students also play a part in the formula. A region, for instance, that is seeing an effective growth in enrolment of eight percent, may in fact see more dollars next year, whereas a region which is only seeing growth of one percent or two percent may see a reduction in dollars. So those two factors have to be taken into account when considering why there may be a reduction in the numbers of teachers.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. With the formula funding, the boards can make their own decisions as to how much money they will put towards teachers, and they can change that. That is good to hear. Also, the Minister made mention that enrolment of students has an impact as to how much funding is allocated to the boards. I need more clarification. The Minister said that even though a particular school board may have growth of four percent from the previous year, but they in fact may be losing some money to an education board that would have growth of eight percent. Even though you are growing in your student population, you will be losing funding. Is that what the Minister is saying? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the formula contains a number of items and I want to be careful about giving Members the impression that it could be figured out this simply. If for example we have 17,000 students in the school system this year and there are 18,000 students next year and we have $139 million both years to provide to the schools to deliver education services, that means that the per student funding that goes to each board has to be reduced. So a board that has a rapidly increasing number of students may see some increase in their funding because the funding would shift on a per student basis. So, yes - there is a chance that boards, even with a small increase in student population, will see a decrease in the amount of funding that goes to them depending on how the final calculations work in the formula.

I should also let the House know that last year the formula was not finalized until early July. That is the time at which all the boards got letters advising them precisely what their funding would be for the 96/97 school year. We will follow that same time table this year. We expect to be able to finalize the formula earlier in July and all boards will be notified in writing in early July what the final number will be. The boards know right now approximately what they can expect. It is just that the formula has to be fine tuned in order to come up with the actual dollars and cents. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would like to ask the Minister if he would make available to this House and Members in this House, when the numbers are finalized, the amounts that the school boards will be receiving and who received increases and who received decreases. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I would be pleased to provide copies to the Members of the letters sent to the Divisional Education Councils and the Divisional Education Authorities in their regions. I think that the comparative amounts should be fairly easy to provide as well. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. During my opening statement I made reference to the Student Employment Program that I am very concerned about. I complimented the Minister of Education for providing the private sector Student Employment Incentive Program which I think is very good. My area of concern lies with what the territorial government is doing in order to enhance student employment and make it easier for students to seek positions. My question is for the Minister of the Financial Management Board. As I mentioned, I found this publication called Broaden Your Horizons. It is a student guide to apply for employment with the federal government throughout Canada. It is an easy format to follow for students and it simplifies where to apply.

In our particular case in the territorial government, students have to, in Yellowknife here, and I am sure it is in some of the regional centres the same thing, run from building to building and department to department filling out application forms. If I want to get answers as to how many students have applied, I understand that I have to ask each particular Minister for that.

Two concerns; I want to know whether the territorial government has worked on producing anything that makes it easy for students to apply such as this particular publication. Then I would like to address the whole question of student employment rates. As I mentioned in my opening comments, there are rates set by the federal government. They range from $7.61 up to $15 for a PhD student. So, I would like to address those particular areas.

My first question for the Minister is have they worked on a program, not the private sector one which I compliment the government for on the territorial government employment for students, has the government worked on some program to make it easier for students to apply? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Yes thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think your own concern about who to address the question to illustrates the problem for students as well. The fact that there are less dollars, I recognize. I am well aware and of course, have been supportive of the program of deficit reduction and so forth. I appreciate we cannot hire as many students as usual. But it still leaves the whole problem of where do students apply? They need a more streamlined process. After all, Mr. Speaker, we are spending millions of dollars investing in the educational level of these students. I think it is time for us to address this particular problem. As the Minister has also referenced, it is difficult for people to apply.

I think it is time for the government to address this particular problem and perhaps take as an example this publication. I wonder if the Minister will undertake to look at this specific problem for students so we get a more streamlined process in that end. Thank you.