Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Good afternoon. On February 24th and 25th, I met with the chairs of the NWT education bodies, including the chairs of the divisional education councils, the Commission Scolaire Francophone de Division, the two Yellowknife district education authorities and Aurora College.

I discussed with the chairs the comments and suggestions made by Members of this Assembly regarding schooling. I noted that Members expressed how important schooling is to the futures of our students and our Territory.

The chairs and I discussed a number of issues including the importance of student success and the need to focus on improving the results of our school system. During the meeting, we talked about programming offered at the high school level and many of the chairs highlighted the need to meet the needs of all students and ensure that more students complete their studies.

We also discussed the need for an increased focus on accountability and oversight of budgets as they related to program delivery particularly with respect to special needs funding.

In addition, I shared with the chairs, the importance of a coordinated approach to adult learning so northerners have better access to the post-secondary and skills training required to take full advantage of current and future employment opportunities.

It is important to recognize that our education system has made significant progress over the past 15 years. We now have more students graduating from high school, including an increased number of aboriginal graduates and graduates from community high schools. This growth and development is the result of the hard work by all partners in the education process, especially families and communities who recognize the importance of schooling.

Mr. Speaker, the chairs and I have committed to meeting two times each year to ensure that we have a regular forum for sharing our ideas and our views on providing the best possible education for meeting the needs of all our students.

I thank the chairs for their ongoing commitment to educating our children and youth and I look forward to meeting with them next November to hear their ideas, concerns and aspirations for our NWT education system. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause