Thank you, Mr. Chair. I thought this was a real simple question because I wanted to lead onto something else, but I've spent my entire time trying to determine whether or not, once a student is four years old or five years old and they're put in school, once they are enroled, do they have to attend? I recognize that they don't have to enrol them. That's very clear to me. My question is, once they're enroled, do they have to attend? That's a simple question. Either yes, they have to attend, or no, they don't have to attend. They can come every second Friday if they want. Whatever the response is, I just need a response so I can move onto my actual question. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister.

I thought I was clear. For clarification, Mr. Chair, any child who is in junior kindergarten or kindergarten is not compelled to be in school. It is not a mandatory requirement, although we try to work with the parents, and encourage them to attend. Any child from Grade 1 to 12 is mandatory to be in that. There are some repercussions for it. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Mr. Beaulieu.

I don't understand what is so difficult about my question. I know that junior kindergarten and kindergarten is not compulsory. I know that the students can stay at home if they want to. I know that the parents don't have to enrol them in school if they don't have to. My question is, once they make the decision to enrol the four-year-olds and five-year-olds into school, into junior kindergarten and kindergarten, is it compulsory that they attend like everybody else from 1 to 12?

The Minister just stated that it is not compulsory for kindergarten and junior kindergarten the way it is for grades 1 to 12. That's what the Minister just stated.

Mr. Chairman, I've used up all my time, but once a junior kindergarten student has enroled, we'll just stick with one of the groups, okay, the junior kindergartens. Once they're enroled, then after they've enroled in September, then after that, they can come and go as they please? It's no longer compulsory? I recognize that it's not compulsory for them to enrol, but once they enrol, do they have to attend school? That's my question.

The answer is no, they don't have to attend once they've enroled. That's what the Minister has stated. That's correct, yes. Given that information, I will let you have a follow-up question, Mr. Beaulieu.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. No wonder it doesn't work. I mean, no wonder it doesn't work. I mean, they enrol in school, and then they don't have to attend. That's very strange. My question was to be, when we're dealing with five-year-olds and four-year-olds who are in school, does the funding that's targeted in inclusive schooling also apply to four-year-olds and five-year-olds? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, the inclusive schooling money is applied to the junior kindergarten and the kindergarten, the four- and five-year-olds. I do want to clarify, Mr. Chair, that I feel that it's unfair to say that junior kindergarten is not working. We just started. This is the second time that we have actually done the results. The first one was six years ago. We just had the baseline data. We don't even know how correct that was. We just implemented junior kindergarten across the Northwest Territories in the last couple of years. It's really premature to say that the program is not working. Lots of research says that early childhood development programming does work, whether children are there every day or not. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister. We have 10 more minutes, and we have two speakers left, so I will allow Mr. Thompson to go. Mr. Thompson.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will try to be quick. Can the Minister tell us what percentage of the enrolments are for fours and fives in our system? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm sorry, I can't give you a percentage of the total children in JK or kindergarten compared to all the other students. I don't have that on hand at the moment. I can get it, if it is a request. I can say that the enrolment currently for junior kindergarten is 552 children. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Mr. Thompson.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. My next question is: when we have junior kindergarten and kindergarten, are they part of the funding formally that we have presently? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. That is correct. They are fully funded under the funding formula that we have now. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Mr. Thompson.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Attendance is very important come September until October. They are part of the funding formula. How is this fair if they don't have a requirement to be in school? To me, we shouldn't have them as part of the funding formula. I think they should be left out because they have the option to come and go as they please and as the parents please, which I understand. They are part of the funding formula, so if you register 35 kids in junior kindergarten on September 1^st and the attendance is sporadic and you want the school boards to be honest about it, we are going to see a decline in attendance. That is my question: how do we identify this? How can we fix this so that it is not part of the funding formula? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Any student who is not attending from JK right to grade 12, the teacher is expected to actually try to reach out and to try to find out what is going on with that child. That is just good practice. It is not a policy or an act, but it is good practice. I believe teachers act well. The funding formula works that way for all. That is why I said we need to revise that. We need to look at it, so we are researching it now. We need to relook at that funding formula because it is not only JK.

Any student who enrols in September, whether they leave and they enrol in Sissons and they go the Catholic school or they go to Behchoko or they go to any other community, they go down south, that child is included in the funding formula because of September. Anyone at the end of September, so that is not just JK. It is not only the issue that we need to just take out JK and kindergarten. We need to look at the whole funding program. Anyone who enrols in September and they all go down south, is it fair that they get funded for that? It is a bigger issue than just JK. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. Mr. Thompson.