Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just to clarify, in any given year, enrolments will go up and down. The funding formula will go up and down based on that because enrolments are a major component of that framework.
This past year, we saw enrolments go down by 1.8 per cent, resulting in money that would normally go back to the Department of Finance. Rather than do that, we sought direction and received approval to reallocate that money internally and put it towards including junior kindergarten students in the inclusive schooling formula.
The number of students in junior kindergarten in 2018-2019 amounts to $881,000. As we progress further down the years, if the complement of students in inclusive schooling goes up, the funding will go up. If the complement of students in inclusive schooling goes down, that funding will go down.
We have provided that information to education authorities. They are budgeting based on including junior kindergarten students as part of their ongoing operations for inclusive schooling. Thank you, Mr. Chair.