Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes, as I mentioned on the Effective Behavioural Support Program, we have and are continuing with our process to train teachers on how to deal with classroom disruptions and classroom problems and additionally, to provide the resources for teachers in that area. Extensive work is gearing up in that whole area, Mr. Chairman, to ensure that our classrooms become better controlled by teachers.

The funding of student support we are increasing from what we started our term here in this House with, which was an 8 percent level of funding for student support. This year with this budget, we are going to 15 percent, so it has almost doubled in terms of providing support in the classroom to help deal with individuals who need help.

The best way I can approach the Effective Behavioural Support Program is through the Positive Reinforcement Program. Social behaviour that is not acceptable is discouraged. Students learn from each other that way and there has been proven success with this particular program, Mr. Chairman.

As I said, in the classroom itself, we are providing a lot more support for students who may have disabilities or challenges. It may be FAS or FAE and so forth. Additionally, on parental support, we are looking more and more to methodologies to involve parents and ensure that students get the support at home.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We are working with Health and Social Services on this whole matter of FAS/FAE. Through the Early Childhood Development Program, we have developed some plans to look at testing and so forth. The Nipissing tool is being used by Health and Social Services in that end.

From our own side, Mr. Chairman, teachers cannot diagnose because it is a medical diagnosis that needs to take place. What the process that is used is, if there is an indication that we need to do testing, then the teacher or school will contact the parents and permission needs to be sought to do testing in this whole area. We have a process to follow in the event that someone should be diagnosed. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, there is always a possibility for us to identify areas that could use more funding. There is no question about that. The concern, of course, is the allocation of the resources that we have. It does boil down to that, Mr. Chairman, of saying that we have enough resources, and what resources do we have that we can put into this. The allocation is a very important element. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, we work in partnerships with our DECs and DEAs and we want to ensure that the funding process is correct and that we get feedback from the school systems. The DECs are made up of district education authorities, so it is almost a ground up system, Mr. Chairman.

We have a school planning and resource committee that addresses this issue on a consistent basis, Mr. Chairman. That committee is made up of representatives from the school districts and includes Health and Social Services interestingly enough as well. Mr. Chairman, thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I will have to get the information for the Member. I do not have that here at the moment, Mr. Chairman, if that is okay with the Member.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to ask a few questions to the Minister under this section. It is in regard to PTR versus class size. Mr. Chairman, I think that we have heard a lot of back and forth about the difference between class size and PTR. I acknowledge that this government has gone a long way in funding extra money for our schools. The bottom line that I hear from the parents and what I see when I go to the local schools, and I have attended PAG meetings and so on, the efforts we are making here and the extra money we are approving is not showing at the local level.

I have correspondence that the Minister has sent to the PAG groups in the city, explaining the fine details between PTR and class size. However, I really think we have to do something about this situation where the extra money we are putting in does not seem to show in classes. Our classes continue to be way too big. For example, at Range Lake North School, there are too many kids in the classes. They are sitting wall to wall. They have to organize an escape plan in some classes to make sure it is not unsafe.

Other than the routine answer about the difference between class size and PTR, what can we do? What can we do other than saying it is up to the local boards? Is there anything we can do?