Thank you very much. I can wait, but I’ll certainly take that as a commitment that something is being planned.
Debates of June 9th, 2008
This is page numbers 993 to 1058 of the Hansard for the 16th Assembly, 2nd Session. The original version can be accessed on the Legislative Assembly's website or by contacting the Legislative Assembly Library. The word of the day was education.
Topics
Committee Motion 34-16(2) To Reinstate $110,000 For The Coordinator Assessment And Evaluation Position, Department Of Education, Culture And Employment, Under The Education And Culture Activity (Committee Motion Carried)
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Committee Motion 34-16(2) To Reinstate $110,000 For The Coordinator Assessment And Evaluation Position, Department Of Education, Culture And Employment, Under The Education And Culture Activity (Committee Motion Carried)
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
The Chair Glen Abernethy
Thank you,
Mr. Hawkins. There is no question. We’re on page 8-17, Activity Summary, Education and Culture, Operations Expenditure Summary: $173.231 million.
Department of Education, Culture and
Employment, Activity Summary, Education and Culture, Operations Expenditure Summary: $173.231 million, approved.
Committee Motion 34-16(2) To Reinstate $110,000 For The Coordinator Assessment And Evaluation Position, Department Of Education, Culture And Employment, Under The Education And Culture Activity (Committee Motion Carried)
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
The Chair Glen Abernethy
We’ll go to 8-18, Activity Summary, Education and Culture, Program Delivery Details: $173.231 million. Mr. McLeod.
Committee Motion 34-16(2) To Reinstate $110,000 For The Coordinator Assessment And Evaluation Position, Department Of Education, Culture And Employment, Under The Education And Culture Activity (Committee Motion Carried)
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Bob McLeod Yellowknife South
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I’m going to do something completely different here. I’m going to ask questions on the actual numbers in the budget. I want to ask the Minister about the Professional Improvement, $1.4
million: is that money that’s
agreed to as part of the contract signed with the teachers?
Committee Motion 34-16(2) To Reinstate $110,000 For The Coordinator Assessment And Evaluation Position, Department Of Education, Culture And Employment, Under The Education And Culture Activity (Committee Motion Carried)
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Committee Motion 34-16(2) To Reinstate $110,000 For The Coordinator Assessment And Evaluation Position, Department Of Education, Culture And Employment, Under The Education And Culture Activity (Committee Motion Carried)
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Jackson Lafferty Monfwi
Mahsi, Mr. Chair. We’re trying to figure out which area. I do believe it was
from a previous commitment that was made, not a new commitment.
Committee Motion 34-16(2) To Reinstate $110,000 For The Coordinator Assessment And Evaluation Position, Department Of Education, Culture And Employment, Under The Education And Culture Activity (Committee Motion Carried)
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Bob McLeod Yellowknife South
I apologize for that, because if I’d have turned the page, I would have noticed that, like you said, the same number is under Grants and Contributions, and it does say “as per the Northwest Territories Teachers’ Association Collective Agreement.” So I was going too fast.
Committee Motion 34-16(2) To Reinstate $110,000 For The Coordinator Assessment And Evaluation Position, Department Of Education, Culture And Employment, Under The Education And Culture Activity (Committee Motion Carried)
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Committee Motion 34-16(2) To Reinstate $110,000 For The Coordinator Assessment And Evaluation Position, Department Of Education, Culture And Employment, Under The Education And Culture Activity (Committee Motion Carried)
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Robert Hawkins Yellowknife Centre
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I’m just trying to get a sense. It looks like there’s a dip in school funding. Can the Minister explain why there’s a dip and where it’s either referenced or if he had sort of an explanation? Is it specific to a region? Thanks.
Committee Motion 34-16(2) To Reinstate $110,000 For The Coordinator Assessment And Evaluation Position, Department Of Education, Culture And Employment, Under The Education And Culture Activity (Committee Motion Carried)
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Committee Motion 34-16(2) To Reinstate $110,000 For The Coordinator Assessment And Evaluation Position, Department Of Education, Culture And Employment, Under The Education And Culture Activity (Committee Motion Carried)
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Robert Hawkins Yellowknife Centre
Well, for clarity, yes, but it does come up later. I’m speaking to 8-18, yes.
Committee Motion 34-16(2) To Reinstate $110,000 For The Coordinator Assessment And Evaluation Position, Department Of Education, Culture And Employment, Under The Education And Culture Activity (Committee Motion Carried)
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Committee Motion 34-16(2) To Reinstate $110,000 For The Coordinator Assessment And Evaluation Position, Department Of Education, Culture And Employment, Under The Education And Culture Activity (Committee Motion Carried)
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Committee Motion 34-16(2) To Reinstate $110,000 For The Coordinator Assessment And Evaluation Position, Department Of Education, Culture And Employment, Under The Education And Culture Activity (Committee Motion Carried)
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
June 8th, 2008
Paul Devitt
Mr.
Chair, in terms of explaining
contributions, there are information pages that are perhaps a little easier to follow. This particular dip that’s being referred to is actually a result of a number of changes I explained earlier but also of the decrease in infrastructure contributions associated with the capital contributions for the St. Joe’s project previously budgeted. Thank you.
Committee Motion 34-16(2) To Reinstate $110,000 For The Coordinator Assessment And Evaluation Position, Department Of Education, Culture And Employment, Under The Education And Culture Activity (Committee Motion Carried)
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Robert Hawkins Yellowknife Centre
Okay. Setting aside the
infrastructure costs of that being a dip in that particular case, has school funding been relatively the same or stabilized, which is the same thing? Is it still the same, or has it changed?
Committee Motion 34-16(2) To Reinstate $110,000 For The Coordinator Assessment And Evaluation Position, Department Of Education, Culture And Employment, Under The Education And Culture Activity (Committee Motion Carried)
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Paul Devitt
Mr. Chair, the actual formula funding or per capita funding, to use a simpler term, will be probably slightly higher in the upcoming year.
Committee Motion 34-16(2) To Reinstate $110,000 For The Coordinator Assessment And Evaluation Position, Department Of Education, Culture And Employment, Under The Education And Culture Activity (Committee Motion Carried)
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Robert Hawkins Yellowknife Centre
Has the department ever examined a different principle or style of funding them? As I highlighted in the opening remarks, it’s my thought that schools should get a base funding and then work from there on the PTR. When I referenced base funding, I was suggesting that each school board, either the school board or how it breaks down further, should be funded at the start with a principal, a librarian, custodial staff, and then once you have a functioning community there, you can fill it, of course, with students.
But as it exists now, I’m concerned that the school boards have to make choices, and the choice they have to make is that they get into a problem where they’re only given funding for .5 of a staff or less when it comes to admin or whatnot, and then they have to start scrambling to make their funding work. From what I’ve seen and what I’ve heard in smaller communities, the challenge gets even worse when your funding is based on those things and you’re in a small community and you want to try to offer reasonable options for kids in learning programs.
So with all that sort of background said, has the department ever considered any other option to ensure that all schools had a base funding to them attached to principal programs?
Committee Motion 34-16(2) To Reinstate $110,000 For The Coordinator Assessment And Evaluation Position, Department Of Education, Culture And Employment, Under The Education And Culture Activity (Committee Motion Carried)
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Jackson Lafferty Monfwi
Mr. Chair, that was one of the recommendations or was considered as part of our discussion within our department. There has been some adjustment to the smaller schools. We increase their funding to meet the needs of the isolation of their schools.
Committee Motion 34-16(2) To Reinstate $110,000 For The Coordinator Assessment And Evaluation Position, Department Of Education, Culture And Employment, Under The Education And Culture Activity (Committee Motion Carried)
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Committee Motion 34-16(2) To Reinstate $110,000 For The Coordinator Assessment And Evaluation Position, Department Of Education, Culture And Employment, Under The Education And Culture Activity (Committee Motion Carried)
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Committee Motion 34-16(2) To Reinstate $110,000 For The Coordinator Assessment And Evaluation Position, Department Of Education, Culture And Employment, Under The Education And Culture Activity (Committee Motion Carried)
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Daniels
Mr. Chair, there is basically one formula that determines the amount of funding that goes out. However, the formula is adjusted for our smaller schools, taking into account economies of scale and that type of thing. Thank you.
Committee Motion 34-16(2) To Reinstate $110,000 For The Coordinator Assessment And Evaluation Position, Department Of Education, Culture And Employment, Under The Education And Culture Activity (Committee Motion Carried)
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Committee Motion 34-16(2) To Reinstate $110,000 For The Coordinator Assessment And Evaluation Position, Department Of Education, Culture And Employment, Under The Education And Culture Activity (Committee Motion Carried)
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Jackson Lafferty Monfwi
We are using the one formula for all schools, but we’re just adjusting to the small communities because there are some challenges in the smaller schools.
Committee Motion 34-16(2) To Reinstate $110,000 For The Coordinator Assessment And Evaluation Position, Department Of Education, Culture And Employment, Under The Education And Culture Activity (Committee Motion Carried)
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Robert Hawkins Yellowknife Centre
Mr. Chairman, I’m not disagreeing in any way that funding adjustments need to be reflective of situations that have to make them work. If the Minister either hears me or should be listening carefully, I’m speaking to the fact that I think they should be accommodating those things.
But I think this is a formula that could work in the long haul for every school equally, where we start funding them appropriately. A building should be properly staffed and properly maintained, or else we end up getting into deficits. What I mean by that is it could be an educational deficit, where we don’t have the appropriate teachers to teach all the courses needed, and therefore the kids are missing out, or we don’t have the proper staff to run the facility, or it’s a deficit of finances when it comes down to maintaining the building. I feel very strongly about the examination points of this.
I guess my question to the Minister is: would they take a look at other jurisdictions to see if this is their funding principle on how they fund some of the school organizations to ensure that certain sizes of school have music teachers, certain sizes of schools have librarians, those types of things? They don’t fall under the typical funding formula.
That said, the leftover money — the school boards are challenged to make sure they continue to deliver competent programs, and I think they do. But I think they’re already running at full pace to make sure they can deliver what they have to deliver. I think, truthfully, it’s my opinion that the choices given to them are extremely limited, and it makes it excessively challenging.
With all of that said, I guess I look to the Minister and ask: would they take on the challenge to take on the task to get out there and take a look at how other jurisdictions fund their schools and see if it’s comparable to the Northwest Territories, to ensure we’re delivering the same solid funding levels, in principle again, to our schools as they do out there?
Committee Motion 34-16(2) To Reinstate $110,000 For The Coordinator Assessment And Evaluation Position, Department Of Education, Culture And Employment, Under The Education And Culture Activity (Committee Motion Carried)
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Jackson Lafferty Monfwi
It’s great to compare other jurisdictions. In Ontario, of course, they get more funding than we do. But we certainly will look into that matter and find out what other jurisdictions are offering.