Does the committee agree?

We will begin with Bill 1, An Act to Amend the Education Act. Mr. Ootes, do you have any opening remarks?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, we are here today to discuss Bill 1, an Act to Amend the Education Act. Bill 1 reduces the pupil-teacher ratio from its current level of about 18 to one to a level of 16 to one. The reduction would occur over the next four years. It also increases the funding for student support services. At the present time, student support services are funded at a level of eight percent of the overall funding provided for schools. Over the next four years, should this legislation receive approval, funding will be increased to 15 percent of the school's budget.

This bill meets the conditions described in the Memorandum of Agreement between the Executive Council of the Northwest Territories and the NWTTA, which was signed on January 22 of this year. The bill also meets the objectives of the Department of Education, Culture and Employment's strategic plan. The plan was updated in December, 1999, following consultations with students, teachers, education councils and many others.

During this review, we heard that we have made some excellent progress in our education system, but there is much more that must be done if our children are going to meet the challenges that lie ahead. The need to increase investment in selected areas of the education program was identified as a key priority.

Mr. Chairman, these changes represent an investment that will strengthen our education system. Effective expenditure of these additional monies will occur following discussions with representatives of divisional education councils, education authorities and educational administrators, and the approval of the departmental main estimates by this Assembly.

The legislation being considered today is important to the work of this Assembly. Passage of BilI 1 at this early point in our mandate will establish a firm basis for action and would demonstrate our collective commitment to strengthening the future of our children. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Are there any remarks from the committee overseeing the department? Mr. Miltenberger.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, the Standing Committee on Social Programs is pleased to report on its review of Bill 1, An Act to Amend the Education Act.

Bill 1 was referred to the Standing Committee on Social Programs on February 25, 2000.

The committee held public hearings on this bill on March 22, 2000. The standing committee would like to thank all of the individuals and organizations who made presentations at the public hearing.

Mr. Chairman, this bill proposes to amend the Education Act to fulfill the Government of the Northwest Territories' commitment to the Northwest Territories Teachers' Association. The bill also gives the Minister additional regulation making authority respecting operation and maintenance amounts upon which student support services funding percentages would be calculated.

Members made note of the precedent this has created, with no other jurisdiction having the same degree of detail and specificity with respect to the terms of employment being set out in their Education Acts. This also leads to the concern that other unions may decide to follow a similar process, requiring terms of employment to be dealt with through legislation.

In the course of our review, the committee passed a motion and amended Clause 2 of the bill to correct numbering and punctuation errors and an unintended reference to education bodies.

In presenting the bill on behalf of the Minister responsible for Education, the Premier stated that the Department of Education, Culture and Employment will supply additional monies for the increases to student support funding, detailed under section 2(1.1)(b) of the bill. However, the committee noted that these obligations arising from the legislation could also possibly be met by a reorganization of the funding formula for education authorities.

The committee would also like to emphasize that the pupil-teacher ratio not be confused with class size. The pupil-teacher ratio is a formula used for determining funding to schools. The pupil-teacher ratio is not indicative of actual class sizes and does not limit the number of students that may be in a classroom.

The Department of Education, Culture and Employment acknowledged that this legislation addresses the pupil-teacher ratio and not class sizes. Further, the department expressed that there was no means of forcing boards to decrease class sizes other than the use of an accountability framework to ensure that the boards met government priorities.

Mr. Dan Schofield, chair of Yellowknife School District No. 1, stated their district has approximately 39 percent of the total students in the Northwest Territories and approximately 26 percent of the teachers in the Northwest Territories, yet they were not consulted in the negotiations leading up to the preparation of the legislation.

In their presentations to the committee, both Yellowknife school boards stated they would have appreciated being consulted about proposed changes to the legislation prior to the public review of Bill 1.

This lack of consultation with the Yellowknife districts was a concern to the committee, especially since the legislative changes will result in an additional cost to the taxpayers of Yellowknife, if these districts choose to meet the public expectation of similar class size reductions to those outside of Yellowknife.

As a bit of background, Mr. Chairman, Yellowknife Education District No. 1 and Yellowknife Catholic Schools are different from other Northwest Territories education authorities in two ways.

First, their teachers are not employees of the Government of the Northwest Territories. Secondly, they receive only 75 percent of their funding levels from the Department of Education, Culture and Employment's formula for kindergarten to grade 9. The additional 25 percent is raised through municipal taxes. This financial arrangement date backs to the 1950s, when the federal government was responsible for the delivery of education in the Northwest Territories.

Both school districts pointed out that the changes arising from Bill 1 will cost their districts money if they wish to meet the public expectations that arise from the decreased pupil-teacher ratios and indicated that the citizens of Yellowknife would have to raise the additional monies through taxes.

However, in spite of the additional financial burden, both boards support the proposed changes to the Education Act as overall, the changes will benefit the students. The Yellowknife school districts further indicated that they believe it is time to have "some minor refreshing of numbers in the funding formula".

Premier Kakfwi, sitting in for Minister Ootes, agreed that a meeting could be set up with the Yellowknife boards to discuss the formula. The committee believes that, at least in relation to the incremental monies that would flow as a result of this bill, the Yellowknife boards should get 100 percent of the funding.

The committee recommends that the Department meet with the Yellowknife district education authorities to discuss the funding formula and report to the committee on the results of that meeting before the next session.

In his presentation, Yellowknife Catholic Schools superintendent Mr. Kern Von Hagen highlighted the issue of the number of teachers and infrastructure to the committee. Presently, there are schools that are operating at 100 percent or over capacity. The education authorities do not have the physical room to increase the number of teachers. He stated the additional funding for the reduction in the PTR might be used to apply support services in a targeted way.

The committee was informed that education authorities have the discretion to use funds earmarked for decreasing the PTR for student support services. Conversely, monies for student support programs can be used to hire additional teachers. The committee then wondered since monies for these two funds are so interchangeable, perhaps there is duplication and inefficiency in the funding formula.

Ms. Thomas, President of the NWTTA, noted that in Canada, up to 40 percent of children are at risk of failure in school because of an array of emotional, social and health problems. Ms. Thomas indicated that there is no doubt that the numbers for the Northwest Territories will be higher.

The committee heard of the existence of magnet communities, which have special situations and elevated demands on student support services. The completion of the student needs survey that is presently underway will hopefully reflect the additional demands placed upon the magnet communities.

Mr. Chairman, the committee does support the passage of this bill. However, we do not see it as being the perfect solution. In the future, we hope that there will be no further use of legislation to resolve contract negotiations

This bill does get more badly needed money into our education system. It appears to the committee that it would be more beneficial to put monies into student support services as opposed to reducing the pupil-teacher ratio. Whether the money is used to affect class size or supplement student support services, the delivery of education in the Northwest Territories will be improved by passage of this bill. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mr. Miltenberger. At this time, I would like to ask the Minister if he would like to bring in any witnesses?

Yes.

Sergeant-at-Arms, could you please escort the witnesses in?

Mr. Minister, could you please introduce your witnesses for the record?

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, with me today are Mark Cleveland, deputy minister for the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, Paul Devitt, director of financial and management services, and Diane Buckland, legislative counsel for the Department of Justice. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Welcome, witnesses. Are there any general comments or questions for the Minister regarding Bill 1? Detail? Clause by Clause? Does the committee agree?

We are on tab one of our binders, page 1, clause 1. Agreed?

Clause 2. Agreed?

Clause 3. Agreed?

Bill as a whole? Agreed?

Does the committee agree that Bill 1 is ready for third reading?

Bill 1 is now ready for third reading.

-- Applause

Thank you, Mr. Minister. Thank you, witnesses. We will move on to Bill 4, An Act to Amend the Student Financial Assistance Act. At this time, I would like to ask the Minister if he has any opening remarks. Mr. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, thank you for the opportunity to discuss Bill 4, An Act to Amend the Student Financial Assistance Act. I would like to make a few comments about the bill itself and the redesign of the Student Financial Assistance Program that will result from the passage of this bill.

The key objective of the changes to the act is to pave the way for providing increased levels of financial support to students attending colleges, universities and technical schools.

Mr. Chairman, the changes proposed to the act are relatively minor. If this bill is approved, the individual lifetime loan limit will be increased to $47,000 and the size of the revolving loan fund increased to $33 million. However, as all Members are aware, these changes are being made to permit comprehensive redesign of the Student Financial Assistance Program.

To understand the importance of the proposed redesign, it is important to recognize that postsecondary students in Canada face rising tuition, book, living allowance and travel costs. A study of 27 Canadian universities in 1998 indicated the average education costs across Canada had increased significantly. While costs have been rising, there have been no increases to the level of funding provided to students under the SFA Program since 1992.

Postsecondary education and training are extremely important to Northerners. While 80 percent of Northerners with postsecondary diplomas, and 90 percent of those holding degrees, are employed, less than 50 percent of Northerners with less than grade 10 are employed. Employers are now requiring many of their employees to have postsecondary education, due to the increasingly technical nature of many jobs. Recent studies in Canada show that nearly 70 percent of all new jobs require postsecondary education.

Given the rising costs for postsecondary education, its importance to the northern labour force, and our current limited financial resources, we face the challenge of finding a way to give more money to students in a prudent and fiscally responsible manner.

Since 1997, the Department of Education, Culture and Employment has been consulting extensively with the public, students, aboriginal leaders and legislative standing committees, regarding reform of the Student Financial Assistance program. This consultation included a Minister's Forum on Student Financial Assistance made up of members who represented a broad range of public interests. The group held public hearings in a number of locations and talked to representatives from virtually every community in the NWT. The final report of the forum, tabled with the Minister of the day, outlined a series of recommendations, virtually all of which have been addressed in the program redesign.

Since the completion of the Minister's Forum, there have been further extensive discussions with legislators, aboriginal leaders, students and other interested Northerners. We have received many excellent comments and suggestions targeted at ensuring we have a strong and effective program. These suggestions have been very useful - and many, but not all of them, have been accommodated within the program redesign. The result of all of this work is a program that balances the wide variety of interests that have been expressed, but continues to keep a very sharp focus on the financial needs of students.

I would like to highlight a few key facts. Under the redesigned Student Financial Assistance Program, tuition allowances will increase to a maximum of $1750 a semester from the current amount of $1250. Funding for books will increase to $300 per semester. Living allowances will increase by no less than seven percent. All of these increases will directly benefit students.

In addition to these increases in benefits, we are increasing the amount of funds a student can borrow. However, we are also limiting the maximum so that unnecessary student debt is not built up.

This program redesign was done in a manner so as to ensure that overall costs for the program would be similar with those of the current program. However, as a result of the public hearings of the Standing Committee on Social Programs and the committee's subsequent recommendation, we have added the option for Metis and Inuvialuit students to receive either a grant or a remissible loan to cover living costs. This change has resulted in an increase to overall program funding of approximately $500,000.

Mr. Chairman, we must act now. Students expect us to assist and it is vital that we move quickly; if we do not, the current trend of erosion of support will continue. If students are to receive additional benefits in the 2000-2001 academic year, it is essential that the finalization of program regulations occurs quickly and that program information is effectively communicated.

I would like to close by emphasizing once again that we must focus on the needs of the students. We want and need postsecondary graduates to work in the North and to contribute to the development and growth of our communities, our businesses and our Territory. The program redesign is a balanced approach to supporting student needs as well as recognizing the interests and commitments of this government and all Northerners. Thank You.