HAY RIVER - Similar to another alternative school in Fort Smith, the Storefront Education Centre in Hay River may be forced to close due to a GNWT funding change next school year.

Paul Theriault: Principal fears school might close.

"We're going to be losing $240,000," said Paul Theriault, principal of Diamond Jenness Secondary School (DJSS), which set up the storefront school in 2009.

"It really puts us into a bind as to what we do for September," he said. "Over the next couple of months, some very serious decisions are going to have to be taken with regards to is it possible to continue offering this program."

Theriault said it is "absolutely" possible the storefront school may close.

Alternative schools are designed for students who are not successful for various reasons in regular schools.

The Department of Education, Culture and Employment (ECE) is switching financial support for alternative schools from formula funding - based on number of students - to block funding next school year.

Janet Grinsted, director of education operations and development with ECE, said alternative schools have been receiving formula funding, even though they are not actually eligible for it under existing criteria.

"Our funding formula is based on the number of kids enrolled who are attending at least 60 per cent of the time during the time we do the enrolment count, which is up until the end of September," she said.

Grinsted said, if the criteria had been applied, alternative schools would have received no funding.

An alternative school is a different kind of program and requires different resourcing, she said, explaining a regular school has most of its students five days a week, while students at an alternative school might only each show up for a few hours a week, meaning there is a much smaller class at any given time.

Before changing to block funding, the department hired a consultant to study the alternative programs. An application process was also developed for school boards to request funding, which they did at the end of the last school year.

Formula funding was continued for this school year as a transition period.

Grinsted said the new funding arrangement for next school year will allow the programs to continue at their current levels and in their current locations, most often separate from a regular high school.

"The amount that we are telling them we are providing for next year is for two teacher salaries, a full-time educational assistant, all facility costs that they have shown us, and an additional $83,000 for operations and maintenance for whatever costs might be there," she said, adding school boards have also been asked to present any other costs to the department for consideration.

She said the new funding arrangement will also be reviewed next school year.

"We're trying to do everything we can to make sure that these programs can receive adequate funding," she said.

Along with Hay River and Fort Smith, there are two alternative schools in Yellowknife and one in Fort Providence. Under the new funding arrangement, the alternative schools in Fort Providence and one in Yellowknife will receive more money, while the other three will receive less.

In Fort Smith, the Phoenix School - operated by Paul William Kaeser High School - will lose $227,000 under block funding and may close.

Hay River's Storefront Education Centre, which operates in the Mackenzie Place high-rise across the street from DJSS, has about 50 students, almost all of them aboriginal people.

It had two graduates in its first year, and Theriault said a dozen more students will likely graduate this year.

"My main concern is delivering an educational program to students who otherwise would not have an opportunity for success in school," he said. "That's the key thing right there.""

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