Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Mr. Devitt.

Another question on the next line talks about schools and I note that schools funding is going down about $2 million. It’s been said that that is due to enrolments. Could I get an indication of how much our enrolments have reduced? Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Minister Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. There is a decrease in enrolment, as we all know, in the Northwest Territories. So there’s a decrease of 2.7 percent in enrolment for September 2008-2009. Mahsi.

Thank you, I’m aware that the enrolments have gone down. Do we know how much, please?

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. I think it was 2.9 percent, but Minister Lafferty.

Give us a second, Mr. Chair.

Not a problem. Mr. Lafferty. Sorry; Mr. Daniels.

Thank you, Mr. Daniels. Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you. Eight thousand two hundred and seventy-five, was that the first number?

Could you confirm, Mr. Daniels?

Thank you very much for that, and my apologies, my brain seems to be slowing right down here or maybe it’s slower than it was before. I wanted to ask one more question with regard to inclusive schooling funding just to see if I can try and understand the situation here.

Yesterday, I believe, I was advised that the amount for inclusive schooling is changing to reflect changes in enrolment, if Hansard is correct. So if I’m to understand the answer from Mr. Devitt we are now tying inclusive schooling funding to enrolments. So maybe I could get a clarification as to whether or not that interpretation is correct first. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Minister Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. That’s correct. It’s always been attached to the enrolment funding. Mahsi.

Okay, thank you. That was clear. So I understand that the numbers of students have gone down; that’s fine, that’s cool. But my information from education authorities is that although the total number of students is going down, the number of special needs or students who require inclusive schooling are going up and, as well, they’re not only seeing an increase in inclusive schooling students, but the ones that they are seeing are the ones who require a very large amount of assistance. They’re very heavily...children who need a great deal of assistance whereas someone who has got a slight disability can relatively easily be dealt with in a classroom without incurring a large amount of extra expense. But when there’s a student who may, for instance, be a quadriplegic with a feeding tube that requires full-time assistance, that’s what I’m referencing in terms of students that require a great deal of assistance. So if authorities are seeing more students who must be inclusive schooled and they are more severely inhibited, why is it then that we are not funding the authorities to a higher level rather than a lower level? Thank you.

Mr. Chair, this inclusive schooling is general. It’s not student specific. It does cover a variety of areas, such as a speech pathologist or other special needs. Yes, this is part of the enrolment, the formula funding that we have initiated a few years back, and I did address this with my department on the decrease of that 0.5 percent, how it’s going to have an impact. So we currently are continuing to work with the school boards, the education councils, on specific to the inclusive schooling, because they’ll feel a minimal impact there, but how we can deal with the ongoing operations that we have currently on hand. But if I may have my deputy just maybe elaborate a bit more on the inclusive schooling area aspect as well. Mahsi.

Thank you, Minister Lafferty. Deputy Minister Daniels.

Thank you, Mr. Daniels. Ms. Bisaro.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thanks to both these gentlemen for the answer. I appreciate that this is the way that it is, but I think it’s probably creating stresses and strains on education authorities if they’re getting less funding, even though it may not be a huge amount of money, but they’re getting less funding, but at the same time they’re getting more and more students who require individual education assistance and one-on-one situations with particular students. So I’d like to ask the Minister whether or not this problem has been identified for him by the chairs of the education authorities at their meetings. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Minister Lafferty.