This is page numbers 431 - 469 of the Hansard for the 13th Assembly, 7th Session. The original version can be accessed on the Legislative Assembly's website or by contacting the Legislative Assembly Library. The word of the day was chairman.

Return To Question 153-13(7): Pupil/teacher Ratio
Question 153-13(7): Pupil/teacher Ratio
Item 6: Oral Questions

Page 434

Michael Miltenberger

Michael Miltenberger Thebacha

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in anticipation of further questions from the Members opposite, I brought a sheaf of information about the formula. Mr. Speaker, there are two things I can do to respond to the question, I can offer a detailed briefing to the Members at whatever level they would like to whatever excruciating level of degree. I have had that briefing myself, and it is a fairly complex issue. Barring that, I can start reading this for the Member just to indicate how it all fits together. I can indicate to the Member that it is fairly extensive and I do not know if that would be the best use of the House's time so maybe the Member could clarify for me what he would prefer. Thank you.

Return To Question 153-13(7): Pupil/teacher Ratio
Question 153-13(7): Pupil/teacher Ratio
Item 6: Oral Questions

Page 434

The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker David Krutko

Clarification. Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Ootes.

Supplementary To Question 153-13(7): Pupil/teacher Ratio
Question 153-13(7): Pupil/teacher Ratio
Item 6: Oral Questions

Page 434

Jake Ootes

Jake Ootes Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to compliment the Minister for working on this because it is important information, but I do believe it is probably best passed on to us in a committee meeting of some sort or as individual Members. The reason for my question, Mr. Speaker, and to clarify the information that I was after, I wonder if the Minister could tell us, when I spoke about a formula funding process, that is what the school boards get paid for. Let us say it is, 1 to 18 is the average, then the school board gets funding for 18 pupils. That is my understanding, but the classroom sizes can be much larger in many cases if I understand. Could the Minister just tell us if that may be correct?

Supplementary To Question 153-13(7): Pupil/teacher Ratio
Question 153-13(7): Pupil/teacher Ratio
Item 6: Oral Questions

Page 434

The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker David Krutko

Mr. Minister.

Further Return To Question 153-13(7): Pupil/teacher Ratio
Question 153-13(7): Pupil/teacher Ratio
Item 6: Oral Questions

Page 434

Michael Miltenberger

Michael Miltenberger Thebacha

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yes, the figure 18 to 1 is an average, but there is a variation within that as I indicated to the Member from Hay River yesterday. The pupil/teacher ratio is one of the factors calculated into this formula which was developed in consultation with the DEAs and DECs and as well which has been shared fully with the NWTTA. Mr. Blake Lyons, as I understand, has had briefings on this as well, so yes, there is a variation and as I indicated yesterday, the larger communities tend to have, according to these statistics, larger class sizes. Some of the smaller regions, the class sizes, for instance in the Deh Cho it is 1 to 15 as opposed to 19.6 for Yellowknife Education District One, for example. Thank you.

Further Return To Question 153-13(7): Pupil/teacher Ratio
Question 153-13(7): Pupil/teacher Ratio
Item 6: Oral Questions

Page 434

The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker David Krutko

Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Ootes.

Supplementary To Question 153-13(7): Pupil/teacher Ratio
Question 153-13(7): Pupil/teacher Ratio
Item 6: Oral Questions

Page 434

Jake Ootes

Jake Ootes Yellowknife Centre

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. So the documentation the Minister has would be able to give us a breakdown for each particular school board and particular schools as to the pupil/teacher ratios. Would that be correct?

Supplementary To Question 153-13(7): Pupil/teacher Ratio
Question 153-13(7): Pupil/teacher Ratio
Item 6: Oral Questions

Page 434

The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker David Krutko

Mr. Minister.

Further Return To Question 153-13(7): Pupil/teacher Ratio
Question 153-13(7): Pupil/teacher Ratio
Item 6: Oral Questions

Page 434

Michael Miltenberger

Michael Miltenberger Thebacha

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I have the official, the deputy and the director of finance on notice to stand by for direction from the honourable Member and his colleagues as to how they would like to address this, but yes, they have all the information that the Member could want and we are more then willing to take the time to go over it with you to whatever level of detail the Members think necessary. Thank you.

Further Return To Question 153-13(7): Pupil/teacher Ratio
Question 153-13(7): Pupil/teacher Ratio
Item 6: Oral Questions

Page 434

The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker David Krutko

Oral questions, Mr. Henry.

Seamus Henry Yellowknife South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Miltenberger. All my questions, Mr. Speaker, will be around the third paragraph of his statement. The Minister has stated that more students than ever are staying at home to complete their schooling which helps to maintain the support system of family and friends and he also tells us the number of graduates are up significantly. Could the Minister give us a breakdown of the percentage increase by region of the increase in graduating students for the past few years? Thank you, Mr. Speaker

The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker David Krutko

Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Miltenberger.

Return To Question 154-13(7): Graduation Rate Increases
Question 154-13(7): Graduation Rate Increases
Item 6: Oral Questions

Page 434

Michael Miltenberger

Michael Miltenberger Thebacha

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I can indicate that secondary school participation has increased from 56 percent in 1985 to 90 percent in 1997. I can indicate that the current rate of graduates for this year, 1999, was somewhat less then 1994-95. If all the questions the Member asked I think are addressed in here. I cannot give him the regional break down as I stand here, but once again I can commit to giving him all the breakdowns that he would like in

terms of, by region, by ethnicity and by community, if that is what he would like. Thank you.

Return To Question 154-13(7): Graduation Rate Increases
Question 154-13(7): Graduation Rate Increases
Item 6: Oral Questions

Page 435

The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker David Krutko

Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Henry.

Supplementary To Question 154-13(7): Graduation Rate Increases
Question 154-13(7): Graduation Rate Increases
Item 6: Oral Questions

Page 435

Seamus Henry Yellowknife South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Could the Minister tell us in his statement that more students than ever are staying at home, in their home community. Could the Minister tell us the number of communities that have high school education programs available to their residents? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Supplementary To Question 154-13(7): Graduation Rate Increases
Question 154-13(7): Graduation Rate Increases
Item 6: Oral Questions

Page 435

The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker David Krutko

Mr. Minister.

Further Return To Question 154-13(7): Graduation Rate Increases
Question 154-13(7): Graduation Rate Increases
Item 6: Oral Questions

Page 435

Michael Miltenberger

Michael Miltenberger Thebacha

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I can give him a percentage, 98 percent of the communities have high school extensions. If he wants to know which communities, once again I would have to commit to get back to him and itemize them all for him. Thank you.

Further Return To Question 154-13(7): Graduation Rate Increases
Question 154-13(7): Graduation Rate Increases
Item 6: Oral Questions

Page 435

The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker David Krutko

Oral questions. Supplementary, Mr. Henry.

Supplementary To Question 154-13(7): Graduation Rate Increases
Question 154-13(7): Graduation Rate Increases
Item 6: Oral Questions

Page 435

Seamus Henry Yellowknife South

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. On the Minister same paragraph, he talks about adult basic education classes are full. Can the Minister tell me approximately what portion of his budget would be dedicated to adult basic education? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Supplementary To Question 154-13(7): Graduation Rate Increases
Question 154-13(7): Graduation Rate Increases
Item 6: Oral Questions

Page 435

The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker David Krutko

Mr. Minister.

Further Return To Question 154-13(7): Graduation Rate Increases
Question 154-13(7): Graduation Rate Increases
Item 6: Oral Questions

Page 435

Michael Miltenberger

Michael Miltenberger Thebacha

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, possibly later today we are going to be getting into a detailed examination of the budget where I will have the officials, and all those budget figures with me to be able to address those questions. In fact they are listening right now, and they will be able to address all the questions the Member may have in terms of the specific detail and the numbers, the students, the breakdown, the percentage of budget spent on adult education. Once again we would be prepared to do that to the level that the Members wish when we appear later today for our budget. Thank you.

Further Return To Question 154-13(7): Graduation Rate Increases
Question 154-13(7): Graduation Rate Increases
Item 6: Oral Questions

Page 435

The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker David Krutko

Oral questions, Mrs. Groenewegen.

Jane Groenewegen

Jane Groenewegen Hay River

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Premier, Mr. Antoine. Mr. Speaker, many people across our territory are asking for more money for education and we have a tremendous amount of infrastructure and demands on our funds. We have been through quite a deficit and cost-cutting exercise already in the last few years and whenever we talk about more money for education it always get thrown back to us well, where would you like to take it from? It is hard to find any sizable pocket of money anywhere, in one particular source. What I would like to ask the Premier is, could the Cabinet consider and would it be conceivable that we could look at our budget as a whole, look at every department and what would be the impact of shaving even 1 or 1.5 percent off of every department to put a real boost and an injection of funding into the Department of Education, Culture and Employment? Is something like that even possible, has it ever been considered? Thank you.

The Deputy Speaker

The Deputy Speaker David Krutko

Mr. Premier, Mr. Antoine.

Return To Question 155-13(7): Additional Funding For Education Programs
Question 155-13(7): Additional Funding For Education Programs
Item 6: Oral Questions

Page 435

Jim Antoine Nahendeh

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the request of the honourable Member for Hay River is to re-look at our whole budget and redo the base of each department to increase the base of education. That is basically what her question is, and the question was to see whether this sort of thing has been done. My answer is no, we have not done that, although there is a process that we follow. We all learn this process once we get into this House, the whole business plan process. It starts now for next year. To do it for this current budget would be impossible to do, with a lot of discussion we could probably look at the next year's budget. I guess that is the only way we could deal with it.

The other way of doing it is if we somehow or other get into a new source of revenue, like the honourable Member mentioned, that if we get into a huge pot of money some place, then that is where we would probably look at injecting into the base of the Department of Education, Culture and Employment to boost the whole problem of education. No, we have not done it for this year, we have not even talked about it. I think we are just going through the whole process right now which was started last spring and is only now coming to its conclusion. The way to do it would be for the next year, to start perhaps now and start looking at the whole process. Thank you.