Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the framework used by the Department of Education, Culture and Employment to fund schools is not working in the Deh Cho, and it is not working in Hay River. We are lucky that, over the years, the schools in Hay River have had many skilled and dedicated principals, teachers, and support staff and have been governed by equally dedicated education authority members. It is because of all of them that Hay River has had better educational outcomes than most places in the territory.
However, Mr. Speaker, this success has come despite ECE's funding framework, which has proven itself too rigid and not responsive to our communities' changing demographics. Every year, we see cuts to funding that are out of line with the actual needs of schools and students.
As I have said, we have been fortunate that our education authorities have members who are very engaged and who are willing to put in the time and effort to make the tough decisions about how to allocate the ever-dwindling funds. We are also lucky enough to have principals who have the ability to stretch those funds further than we should reasonably expect them to.
However, Mr. Speaker, neither the education authorities nor the principals can multiply bread and fish, and so, eventually, even their skill and dedication will not be enough to stave off the damage from never-ending budget cuts. A system can only bend so far before it breaks, and we are already starting to see stress fractures.
Schools are increasingly having difficulty affording enough staff to provide the level of education that our students deserve and are having to make cuts in areas that they know will directly affect educational outcomes. They have no choice, though, Mr. Speaker. If you don't have the money, you don't have the money.
What worries me is that, at some point, the people who have been holding everything together are going to get fed up and move on, and the students will suffer. I have raised these concerns with the department before, and they have been raised by those within the system for years. However, nothing ever seems to change.
I have never really heard any complaints about the funding formula coming from Yellowknife, with the exception of junior kindergarten debates, and the capital seems to have excellent educational outcomes. If there is resistance to changing the formula because it works well for Yellowknife, then keep it the same for Yellowknife, but change it for the regional centres so that our youth are also provided with the best possible opportunities to achieve success.
Mr. Speaker, it's time that the department responds to these growing concerns and develops a funding formula that works for all schools. I'll have questions for the Minister of Education at the appropriate time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.