Thank you, Mr. Chair. We have committed to fully funding junior kindergarten, as we have said on many occasions. With the funding formulas, that is something that we constantly review. Like anything else, our policies, in terms of the concerns that were brought up in terms of fully funding junior kindergarten, we still don't know the full numbers, so we are still working with our education authorities. Once we have those education authorities, we will look at going through the appropriate supplementary budgetary process. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Debates of May 31st, 2017
This is page numbers 2459 – 2512 of the Hansard for the 18th 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 program.
Topics
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
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Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate the response from the Minister. Can the Minister tell me: does the department have projections right now of the number of junior kindergarten students that they expect across the Northwest Territories? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
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Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I don't have the details. I will go to my assistant deputy minister, please. Thank you.
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Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
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Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Mueller
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, we have an approximate number of students that we believe are going to be in junior kindergarten for the upcoming 2017-2018 school year. As a result of that, for example, for transportation costs for junior kindergarten students, based on that estimated amount that was included in the transportation funding, that was given to education authorities. What we are still trying to determine and work with education authorities on is the cost of the additional booster seats or seatbelts that would be put into school buses for those children who would require them. That is still something that we are working with education authorities on.
As far as for these other amounts of funding, as the Minister has already suggested, this upcoming school year, $155 million will be distributed among the education authorities to support JK to grade 12 education. Out of that amount, $26.5 million has been allocated for inclusive schooling. This current school year is the first year of a three-year phased-in approach for the new inclusive schooling directive. With that, new funding and accountability methods are a model that is being used. Over the next few years, we will see if that is the appropriate amount for the support of inclusive schooling. Thank you.
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
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Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake
Thank you, Mr. Chair. As we continue to work with education authorities and families continue to look at enrolling four-year-olds into the junior kindergarten program, we will have a better stance, after this initial setup, on enrollments. I can provide the Member with those numbers as we get them. Thank you.
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
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Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake
Thank you, Mr. Chair. That was a very long answer to a simple question, but I have one simple question to ask the Minister: I am looking for a commitment from him to prepare cost estimates, using these formulae, to change the ones that start at kindergarten, change them to JK, and tell me, using their JK student projections, how much extra it is going to cost to fully fund JK? Will the Minister commit to providing Regular MLAs with that information? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
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Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake
Thank you. Members did receive the most up-to-date, most current funding formulae that we have for how we fund our schools. We can take a look at the ones that pertain to junior kindergarten, and then look at adjusting those. Thank you.
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
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Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am not sure that actually responded to the question. I am wondering: can I get the commitment from the Minister of the department to plug in their projections of JK students and run them through these formulae, where the formulae start at kindergarten, add in JK, and provide those cost estimates for the additional funding that would be required to fully fund JK? Is the Minister committed to provide that information? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
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Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake
Thank you, Mr. Chair. When we did commit to fully funding junior kindergarten, we did base those on projected four-year-olds from the previous year, and we already are committing to the 12 to 1 ratio of how we fund junior kindergarten. Those numbers were put in for when we said we were going to be fully funding JK, and that announcement was made during the budget address. Thank you.
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
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Kevin O'Reilly Frame Lake
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I recognize that the Minister is under no obligation to actually respond to the questions, but I don't know how to make it any clearer. The formulae that are in here that start with kindergarten: can the Minister change that to JK, plug in the projections that he has, and give us the cost estimates, what those calculations actually are? Can the Minister commit to do that? Thank you, Mr. Chair.
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Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake
Thank you, Mr. Chair. When we look at implementing the 12 to 1 ratio right now on junior kindergarten, that is increasing the amount of dollars that are already going to the schools at, I believe, about $1.5 million. The formula funding we will have to take back to the department and look at whether it is going to impact how we fund the, sorry, that is $1.8 million for the upcoming school year, and those numbers we can actually start to get as we start seeing enrollment rates coming through. We will definitely take it back to the departments and look at those. Thank you.
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
The Chair Frederick Blake Jr.
Thank you, Minister Moses. Time has expired. If you would like, I can put your name back on. Thank you. Next, we have Mr. Simpson.
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
R.J. Simpson Hay River North
Thank you, Mr. Chair. To clause 2. From Hay River, there has been lots of talk of junior kindergarten ever since the Minister was just a lowly Regular Member in social programs. Some people in Hay River are philosophically opposed to junior kindergarten, for whatever reason. They don't think children should be in school. Some people are unsupportive of the idea of early childhood education. I feel that we already have the facilities needed in Hay River. While Hay River might be equipped to educate our four-year-olds, I am aware that other communities aren't. My first question to the Minister is: if this clause is struck out or if this bill does not pass, what happens to junior kindergarten henceforth? Does the department continue to pursue this initiative? Is it going to attempt to coerce schools to run junior kindergarten programs? Is it going to offer to fund junior kindergarten programs? What is going to happen to junior kindergarten if this bill is defeated or this clause is struck down? Thank you.
Consideration in Committee of the Whole of Bills and Other Matters
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Alfred Moses Inuvik Boot Lake
Thank you, Mr. Chair. First and foremost, this government has set out a mandate in the 18th Legislative Assembly to provide early childhood programs throughout the NWT. This will, however, significantly change how we roll out junior kindergarten to our communities. All education authorities are well into their implementation efforts into junior kindergarten and making it a reality in every school come this academic year, in 2017-18. The 20 communities that currently run junior kindergartens have been doing it very well, and it has been received there very well and are highly successful.
I can't make really definite comments to the Member's questions, but it is mandated by this 18th Assembly that we do provide early childhood programming and early childhood development, and those discussions would have to take place, should that happen, and also discussions taken back to my Cabinet colleagues to find a solution. But I just want to assure the Member that we are committed to providing early childhood programs throughout the Northwest Territories, and junior kindergarten is one of those areas that we can implement it. We do have 12 communities in the Northwest Territories that currently do not have any daycares or day homes, and it is something that we see as a positive, moving forward, providing those to families that do need the development programs for their children entering school. Thank you, Mr. Chair.