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.