Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank my colleague from the Deh Cho.
Recommended Actions
1. That the Department of Education, Culture and Employment review and adjust its school funding formulae to ensure that additional funding accounts for new JK students in Inclusive Schooling, Aboriginal Language and Culture-based Education, and transportation funding from the 2017-2018 school year on;
2. That the Department of Education, Culture and Employment report annually on the implementation of the Strengthening Teacher Instructional Practices pilot project and the Junior Kindergarten Program, including an account of collaboration and engagement with existing childcare and early childhood development service providers, and that these reports be tabled in the Legislative Assembly; and
3. That the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, in its ongoing work toward an action plan for universal daycare by March 2018, account for community-by-community needs for after-school care, including care needed on an irregular basis, e.g. on professional development days.
Recommendation 1
The Standing Committee on Social Development recommends that the government provide a comprehensive response to this report and its recommended actions within 120 days.
Conclusion
The committee has learned that, when similar changes to instructional hours were initiated in Alberta, they elicited many of the same questions we have heard from witnesses and from our constituents. How will students access the hours they are entitled to? How will students be empowered to succeed? How will boards distribute existing resources and/or obtain new resources to meet both the government's labour commitments and statutory requirements? Similarly, the committee observes that various jurisdictions in Canada and in the United States are grappling with the challenge of implementing effective, meaningful, and accommodating educational programming for three- and four-year-olds. Here at home the issue has been fraught. Certainly there is much at stake. As the Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh said during the committee's clause-by-clause review of Bill 16, "No matter what the outcome, we recognize that there are two sides to this issue and both sides want the best for the children."
This concludes the committee's report on Bill 16, An Act to Amend the Education Act. All committee reports are available online at the Legislative Assembly website: www.assembly.gov.nt.ca. Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, that Committee Report 10-18(2): Standing Committee on Social Development Report on the Review of Bill 16, An Act to Amend the Education Act, be received by the Assembly and moved into Committee of the Whole for consideration. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.