Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. For that we’ll go to Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Chairman. I’m trying to find that information here. The information we have, of course, is based on projection and the enrolment, if it goes down, reflects on the actual budget. Unless my director has more detailed information that he can follow up on.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Mr. Devitt.

Thank you, Mr. Devitt. Ms. Bisaro.

Thanks for the information. So if our enrolments have gone down, I note that the total funding to schools has actually gone up by about $1 million. If enrolments are down, we have fewer staff from one year to the next, why is the budget going up?

Thank you to Mr. Devitt for that information. Just one last question. This is almost $150 million that we are allocating to our education authorities. We turn this money over to them, and I think the Minister’s referenced it a bit previously, but what do we ask of the authorities to have them justify to the department that they’re spending the

money the way we think they should be spending it?

Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. Mr. Lafferty.

Mahsi, Mr. Chairman. Obviously, there has to be a financial accountability. On an annual basis we receive financial statements from them. I believe it’s audited financial statements from them on an annual basis. That clarifies where expenditures happen and in what areas and so forth, staff, administration, the schools, student programming, all of that. That’s how they base it on annual expenditures, through audited financial statements.

Thanks to the Minister. That accounts for, sort of, the actual money that they’re spending, but they’re spending the money to achieve certain results and standards, I would hope.

I would like to know from the Minister, he’s heard a lot from Members about the inequality of graduating students, the level of education that students graduate with. I want to just ask this question because I often wonder about it. Who is responsible for the quality of the results in our K to 12 education? Is it the education authorities or is it the department?

The quickest answer would be everyone. We’re all responsible. We provide funding to the school boards. Even the parents and grandparents have to play a part. The school programming, there is an accountability framework that happens where my department and I work closely with the divisional boards to make it a success for the students. When we say who is responsible, I believe that we are also responsible. We have to make sure that the school boards are following the Education Act and the money that flows to them goes to the direct cause of student success. Those are just some of the areas that we closely monitor.

We have heard over and over about some students not successfully completing Grade 12. We have heard that. Due to that we are doing an education renewal that will capture the small community schools and professionalism, and also the systems. Even the student assessments are part of that. We are dealing with it. We are very serious. We want the education system in the NWT to be the best of the best. That is what we’re pushing for.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Page 10-33, Education, Culture and Employment, information item, details of funding allocated to education authorities.

Page 10-34, Education, Culture and Employment, information

item, education authorities, active positions. Mr. Moses.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just one really quick question here. Something that I’ve noticed is the decrease in active positions for the Beaufort-Delta. There is a loss of seven positions here. I also see that is also a trend with the Deh Cho and Sahtu. Specifically for the Beaufort-Delta region, what positions are those and how will it affect the running of the organization?

Thank you, Mr. Moses. For that we’ll go to Mr. Devitt.

So just for clarity, the Minister and staff today wouldn’t know what positions are going to be lost under this formula.

Thank you, Mr. Devitt. Page 10-34, Education, Culture and Employment, information item, education authorities, active positions.

Page 10-37, Education, Culture and Employment, information item, Aurora College funding allocation, $32.075 million. Mr. Bromley.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Minister has heard committee talk about renewable energy programs, energy efficiency programs and the need to get them into Aurora College. We’ve talked about that for a number of years. I’m not aware of any yet. Maybe I can get an update from the Minister. The Minister also has said that in the interim, the renewable energy aspects and energy efficiency aspects could be built into existing programs such as for electricians or plumbers, these sorts of things. Perhaps the community administration programs and so on. Could I just get an update from the Minister on where we’re at towards getting those programs up and running?