Mrs. Groenewegen, I think you can also ask your question under page 10-19, education authority contributions, which is basically talking about program funding for education authority. Mrs. Groenewegen.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. If I have the committee’s approval then, to ask about that.

Mr. Chairman, why is the Department of Education, Culture and Employment significantly reducing funding for students in the innovative and highly successful programs that our partners and ECE have otherwise been celebrating staff and student accomplishments? Why are we significantly reducing that funding for the alternative schooling program as disclosed yesterday that the program in Hay River is looking at a $200,000 reduction? Thank you.

Minister of Education.

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. This alternative school programming, as we stated in the past, has been successful in various areas. We needed to look at the overall funding, the number of students that were attending in various schools and the funding that they were receiving, and at the end of the day, I guess, the end product, how many students are successfully completing the program. Based on the evaluation that’s been done, we decided that they would continue getting funding and the funding would be based on the alternative programming that would be offered and also the funding to offset the costs of the students that are in the program. We will continue to offer funding with a slight decrease in certain areas and some would have an increase as well. Mahsi.

Mr. Chairman, between the program in Fort Smith and in Hay River, the two larger communities in the South Slave, and with the South Slave Divisional Education Council, between the reductions to the two schools it’s a total of $428,000. Where is that money being re-profiled to? What’s the department doing with the money that they are not going to be putting into this program? Thank you.

Mr. Chair, some of the money that’s been identified or reallocated to other programming to offset the costs of, I guess you would say, higher costs to operate. The money has been expended in other areas as well. Mahsi.

Mr. Chairman, this particular initiative seems like it’s been particularly successful and falls very nicely in with the Aboriginal student achievement goals of the Department of Education, Culture and Employment. Mr. Chairman, what would it take to have these two programs... I’m particularly concerned about Hay River, but they are part of the same educational division. What would it take to have these two programs grandfathered at their current funding levels? Thank you.

Mr. Chair, I’ve already written to the school boards that at this point in time we’re not considering grandfathering. However, we are providing funding after the fiscal year based on the students attending the programming. In addition, if there are additional expenditures that may occur, then there can be a substantiation. We can provide additional funding to offset the costs specifically for the students in the alternative programming. Mahsi.

The funding required to continue to operate these alternative schools, the argument could be made for a critical number of staff and a critical level of resources, the same kind of argument that we made when we passed the motion the other day that Mr. Yakeleya brought forward when he talks about the number of students in grades 10, 11, 12 in the small communities. There comes a point that even with a small number of students, you do need a certain level of staff and resources in order to make the program work.

Mr. Chairman, what was the reaction of the DEAs when and if the consultation took place regarding the reduction of the funding for these alternative schools? Thank you.

Mr. Chair, I will get my deputy to elaborate more on the reaction, but I can share with the Member that when we first initiated this discussion we did state that there was going to be some funding changes. We did consult with the superintendent as well. Of course, their argument back also was the higher costs to operate, but we did an evaluation of the program and this is how much the overall programming is costing the organization. If there are additional substantiation costs, well, give us that information. We are awaiting that information, if there are additional costs. But if I can get my deputy to just elaborate more on the reaction from the DEAs. Mahsi.

Mr. Daniels.

Mrs. Groenewegen.

Mr. Chairman, we put these local governing authorities in place in the community level, thinking that they will provide us good feedback on what is an effective way to expend ECE dollars to get the best results for the students. I would like to ask the Minister: has there been an analysis done showing what the impact is going to be of these reductions in the funding, especially when you consider that if these students do not get these credits that they need to conclude their high school diplomas, that they will probably be coming back into the system at some point to either have upgrading or to get their GED or in some fashion, and that is also a cost to this government? I’m not saying it’s not a worthwhile expenditure, but has there been a cost-benefit analysis done of how these alternative schools help the students that are still at high school age or relatively close to high school age versus if they have to come back into the system at some later time to achieve their high school diplomas? Thank you.

That’s all the questions I had on that for now. I’m not happy with the answers, I’m not satisfied with them. I think the government is making a mistake by reducing the funding to these worthwhile projects, one in Fort Smith and the one in Hay River. Like I said, I’m not satisfied with the response, but I will pursue it at another time. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mrs. Groenewegen, a comment. Next I have Mr. Yakeleya and Ms. Bisaro. Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Are we on page 10-19?

We’re somewhere between 10-18, 10-19 and 10-20. Take your pick.

---Laughter

Thanks for the flexibility, Mr. Chair. I wanted to ask a question on 10-19 on the NWT Teachers’ Association Professional

Development Fund. We make a contribution to this development fund for teachers as part of their Collective Agreement. Now, I’m very happy that the department has initiated a mandatory cultural orientation week for teachers in the North every year. Is this part of their Collective Agreement funding?

Minister of Education, Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Chair. No, it’s not.

So where do we find the funds so all the teachers in the North can take a few days to learn about the specific cultures in that specific community so they get a better sense of who the children are in the community, where they are working and who the people are? Shouldn’t this be part of their Collective Agreement? Where is the money coming from?

When we initiated this, one prime example, of course, is the orientation that the Member has alluded to. That initiative has been under the Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative funding. Mahsi.