At a Dec. 1 meeting in Hay River, the council narrowly voted to distribute $137,615 to schools on a per-student basis.

The distribution works out to about $75 per student, making the larger communities of Hay River and Fort Smith big winners.

The motion was proposed by Andrew Butler of the Hay River District Education Authority, and supported by representatives from Fort Smith and Fort Resolution.

However, Fort Resolution's Paul Boucher said he actually opposes distributing money on a per-student basis.

Boucher explains he wanted to make a point that such a system of funding for education is unfair. "It's a wake-up call to the government to show them that formula funding doesn't work for small communities."

The representatives of Lutsel K'e and the Hay River Reserve opposed the motion.

The vote left Hay River Reserve representative Diane Tourangeau irate.

"It's unfair," she told the council. "We only get $75 per student."

Hay River Reserve will get about $5,400, Lutsel K'e $6,375, Fort Resolution $9,975, the two Fort Smith schools $47,325, and the three Hay River schools $65,100.

SSDEC superintendent Curtis Brown had suggested that, along with $35,000 for system-wide improvements, each school could get a base $5,000 and an additional $35 per student.

"My suggestion was a compromise," he said following the meeting.

Under his proposal, funding would have ranged from $7,520 for Hay River Reserve up to $45,380 for the three Hay River schools.

The funding for Fort Resolution under Brown's proposal would have been about $320 less than the amount in the motion passed.

The $137,615 to be distributed is the amount in excess of the SSDEC's target of a five per cent surplus. Before the money was split up, the surplus was 5.7 per cent.

However, Brown advised the council not to spend the money, noting the GNWT is facing a possible large deficit.

Butler, of Hay River, countered there are immediate needs in schools. "I think the decision on how the funds should be spent is a local decision at this time."