Supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate an example, but I am trying to get a sense of what the message is that school boards get when they are given 15 percent of the total budget to spend on special needs. What is the message that the department and the government is sending in terms of the expectations of what school boards should do with the money? Thank you.

Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the funding is clearly identified and we have been in touch with both the union and with the school boards with respect to the funding that is provided, the extra funding we provide each year for PTR and student needs funding. We directed these particular organizations to use the funding for that purpose. That is the instruction provided. Thank you.

Final supplementary, Ms. Lee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it might be clear to the committee, but it's not clear to us exactly what objective is being said or what expectations are conveyed to the boards. It should be said in a way that, at the end of the year when the money is spent, we should be able to measure what our level of success is or where the deficiencies are. Could he be more clear about what the department tells the boards? Thank you.

Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the measurement is simple in terms of PTR. I am sure most Members know, because we do get a report back at the end of the year, that it's a little more difficult to quantify the exact numbers of students because the money that's used for student needs is issued for a number of the areas, including support for students, as well as classroom assistants and to add to the classroom assistant numbers. Thank you.

Item 6, oral questions. Mr. Nitah.

Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The intent of my request on this was simply to get some idea of the turnover that we had in this specific area. So we did a small study on this, or are in the process of doing a small study to get some information on that. I wanted to know some of the reasons for the turnover. Thank you.

Supplementary, Mr. Nitah.

Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, part of the reason for gaining this was to see if there were other circumstances other than housing that may be involved in the turnover because, as we know, sometimes it isn't just a housing situation that causes our problems. So I wanted to see where turnover was and how frequent that was. We have no particular ultimate plan on that because the housing problems that may be there are the responsibility of another department of this government, Mr. Speaker, and private organizations and so forth and communities. Thank you.

Supplementary, Mr. Nitah.

Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The turnover rate I believe last year was 18 percent, Mr. Speaker, which is traditional. It hasn't changed much over the years and it's not inordinate in comparison with other areas. The difficulty we have seems to be in specific areas. We are trying to get a handle on that and why that is occurring, Mr. Speaker. I don't have the dollar amounts at my fingertips here, Mr. Speaker, but we can certainly get it.

Supplementary, Mr. Nitah.

Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Ootes.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as I stated, the turnover rate fluctuates in different areas, different amounts, different times. We noticed, for example, that if we are able to concentrate on a specific area, which we did in the one case in the territory, our turnover rate dramatically reduced. We worked on a teacher induction program and to help teachers who are new teachers and new to the North, then it makes a huge difference in terms of their retainability, much more satisfaction. We team them up with mentors, for example. This is one area that we use. Housing is one part of the turnover issue, but so are perhaps a lot of other areas, Mr. Speaker.