Total activity, $5.28 million. Agreed?

Thank you. Educational development, activity summary on page 9-11, operations and maintenance, total operations and maintenance, $158.18 million. Agreed? I have Mr. Ootes, Mr. Erasmus and Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Earlier in our opening remarks, we all had an opportunity to make some comments,

and I pointed out some areas I was concerned about. One is the area of housing. I believe that would fall under this particular area with respect to teachers. Could the Minister tell us if they have any plans or what the current situation might be with respect to problems they are encountering for housing with teachers in the smaller communities?

Thank you, Mr. Ootes. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The concern about housing in the smallest communities is certainly an issue I hear about from Ms. Thomas whenever we get together. I do know the councils are in the process of doing a housing survey, which they have offered to share with us when it is completed. In response to the specific question, what the department does, is when we have a specific teacher who has a concern or an issue with housing in a specific community, the department works with FMBS to try to find some way to address that problem on a one-by-one basis. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mr. Ootes.

Thank you. I will move on to the various issues, Mr. Chairman. I also refer to the fact that there was restricted resource, and I gave the example that I was given where $350,000 was allocated for the implementation of a new math program, for example. However, in that case, the allocation was $26.14 per student and the math books themselves cost $22 and there was very little left for inservicing or other materials that might be needed to deliver the particular program. Can the Minister tell us, it does constrict what teachers can do in the classroom, when all the money goes for one textbook and they have no money left for any other service to deliver that particular program? Is the Minister aware of the kind of restrictions that are there and can this be addressed in some way in the upcoming year?

Thank you, Mr. Ootes. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The big restriction of course, is the availability of funding over and above what we provide to divisional education councils right now. As the Member has pointed out, we have provided in excess of $300,000 as a contribution to councils to assist them in implementation of the new math curriculum. Within the funding that divisional education councils get now by formula, there is part of that formula that would relate to supplies and materials. When we introduce a new curriculum like the math curriculum across the territories, we look for a way to top that up, to assist them with delivering or instituting the new curriculum. The divisional education councils knew for quite some time that the intention was to bring this new curriculum in. They would then have the ability to plan for it. It would be nice if we could provide 100 percent of the cost for the books and extra funding for lots of inservice time to introduce the new curriculum, but we looked at it and how much we could come up with, in doing our best to assist the divisional education councils, recognizing that change in the curriculum is part of the ongoing business of delivering schools in all communities. Therefore, they have to be prepared to work with us and work within their formulas to bring about these new changes.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mr. Ootes.

Could the Minister tell me if he has had much feedback from the boards when it comes to the funding of new programs, such as the new math program? From what I hear the Minister stating, is that yes, they are advised and they do provide the funding for it, but it may be very restricted. It is really up to the boards then to find extra money if extra money is needed. Going back to my question, has there been feedback from the boards and have they identified specifically or in general, concerns with this particular style of funding for programs?

Thank you, Mr. Ootes. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, we have heard from all of the divisional education councils, the pressures they are under trying to deliver the educational program across the Northwest Territories with the limited funding that is now available. The issues are sometimes different. Not every divisional education council has complained about implementation of the new math curriculum, but in general, they have all talked about concerns with delivering education to special needs students, the pressures they feel with the increasing pupil/teacher ratio and a number of councils have complained, for instance, about the changes made in the formula related to school bussing. Anytime you make a change, there is a concern expressed. We have had concerns expressed because of the reduction in overall funding more than anything else. The funding that we were able to allocate to implementation of the new math curriculum was fairly reasonable, given the cost of the textbooks and so on. If divisional education councils had not felt reductions in other areas, I do not think they would have had any trouble themselves resourcing the inservice days needed to adequately bring the curriculum on-line. Since everybody is under fiscal pressure, this just becomes another one of those points that people can fixate on. The one concern we have heard is about introduction of the new curriculum that we can respond to is divisional education councils would like more advance notice of when curricula will be expected to be implemented, so they can better plan for what they will need available to provide the inservicing and other resources needed.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. Mr. Ootes.

Thank you. Mr. Dent touched on the large and diverse classes. I appreciate that. Let me perhaps deal with a specific question Ms. Thomas had with respect to the school year being reported in hours instead of days. She informs me that is a contention amongst teachers. First of all, if I could ask the Minister to explain from the department's point of view why they report in hours instead of days? Can it be addressed? If not, why can it not be addressed and what are the advantages and disadvantages of each? Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Ootes. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, an interesting question to ask me to defend a position that was not a department position. The department did not propose that hours be included in the new act. In fact

that was a change initiated not by the government or the Cabinet, but by the Ordinary Members in this House, to allow communities some flexibility, for instance, in some communities in the darkest hours or days of the year, they wanted to have a school day that was 12 hours long, so they could finish the program of instruction earlier. The community had that flexibility. Of course one problem would be the collective agreement and hours of work that would get in the way of total community flexibility.

The department and this government are committed by the collective agreement to work with the NWTTA, to examine issues like that. I should just point out, it was the Members of this House, in particular the Ordinary Members, who instituted that change in the draft act, that change was not something that came forward from the department.

Thank you, Mr. Dent. I recognize Mr. Erasmus.

Thank you, Mr. Erasmus. Mr. Dent.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am not sure if there is any aboriginal language instruction in Yellowknife. I do know the Dene Kede curriculum for grades kindergarten to grade six is in place in the western Arctic. The department is continuing to work at developing that curriculum through to grade 12.

The Inuuqatigiit is the curriculum for the eastern Arctic and it has been implemented for grades kindergarten to grade 12. The Member has a point in that there may be a large community that does not have much in the way of aboriginal language education. It is worthwhile noting that the theme of Education Week this year is strength through culture. There is a symposium being sponsored by the department on culture-based education on April 1st and 2nd. Hopefully, through the measures we take, we will help to improve access to aboriginal language education across the north.

This is an ongoing problem. The big challenge is finding enough qualified teachers who can speak aboriginal languages. It is a problem that is particularly difficult in the west. The South Slave Divisional Educational Council has trouble finding qualified Cree speaking teachers. The Beaufort Delta has a very difficult time finding teachers who are qualified to teach in Gwich'in. It is not a problem that we find just in Yellowknife, but the Member makes a point that one of the largest communities in the north does not offer a large amount of aboriginal language programming. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.