SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Great Slave incumbent Glen Abernethy told a crowd gathered for an education-themed debate, school boards need to find cost-savings within before they come to the Department of Education, Culture and Employment (ECE) for more funding.

Educators, parents and students filled seats in the gymnasium at St. Patrick High School on Nov. 12 to grill territorial candidates on how they will help the cause of education if elected, when the sitting health minister made his statement.

"We must look within, and that includes the individual school boards as well as the GNWT, to make sure the programs and services that are running are getting maximum benefit," said Abernethy. "Once we have a better sense of the programs and that we are in fact maximizing dollars, I think it's going to be important to look at some more funding."

Abernethy was defending the decisions of the 17th assembly, when asked if the school boards are due for more funding from ECE, given the goals of inclusive schooling initiatives and the junior kindergarten conundrum.

When schooling for four-year-olds was put on hold for review by the GNWT, Yellowknife Catholic Schools (YCS) and Yellowknife Education District No. 1 (Yk1) rolled out their own versions of the program under the name tag, "pre-kindergarten." The boards paid for the launch out-of-pocket with funding operations covered by a user-pay system so the grade, which city boards agreed is beneficial to students and instrumental in improving territorial graduation rates, could be offered as soon as possible.

Later in the evening, questioners also underlined when city boards reported a surplus during the last term, ECE cut their funding in that amount, burdening them further as they struggled to deliver 14 grades of schooling on funding for 13.

Twenty candidates squeezed into chairs behind tables in the partitioned gymnasium for the two-hour forum - a combined effort of Yk1, YCS and the Commission scolaire francophone NWT. Children bounced around on mats at one end of the gym while parents sat fixated on responses from the candidates to questions aimed at revealing how the reportedly cash-strapped GNWT will support the districts during the next term.

Questions generated by Yk1 and YCS administration and pitched by audience members during an open mic session asked if candidates would support the publicly-funded implementation of junior kindergarten, how they would create inclusive classrooms for students with special needs and work with the French district to carry out the NWT supreme court-ordered expansion at Allain St. Cyr School.

Candidates agreed education is a priority and some new faces competed to demonstrate they were the most education-minded option. Skills Canada's executive director Jan Fullerton, Montessori Schools' Yellowknife president Dave Wasylciw and Alternatives North executive director Kevin O'Reilly vied for the favour of the crowd, citing past experience as educational administrators - or in O'Reilly's case his connection to the French school board through his wife, the Commission's former president, Suzette Montreuil.

Wasylciw stole the show with some of the debate's most ambitious rhetoric.

He said the territory should have a department - and a minister - dedicated solely to education, rather than splitting the attention between education, culture and employment. Asked what he'd say if he had the opportunity to address outgoing Education Minister Jackson Lafferty, Wasylciw's response was short.

"When was the last time you were in a school?" he said.

An awkward moment occurred after a response from Fullerton. She explained her ideas on how the schools could access more funding, since, according to her, the schools need more cash and also underlined the importance of health in helping students achieve better grades.

"What they're being asked to do with the funding available is limiting to students," she said. "Health is the foundation to learning and learning is the foundation to success in life."

After Fullerton's remarks, moderator Kathy Brown - who has a grandchild attending Range Lake North School - piped up.

"I have allotted 20 seconds for applause," she said, for the first and only time during the night.

The crowd applauded for about 10 seconds.

Brown did not respond to requests for comment before press time.

John Stephenson, Yk1 chair, said Brown and the other women running the forum were volunteers and time for applause was to be included after each speaker. Brown did not intend to appear to be choosing favourites, he said.

Kam Lake candidate Kieron Testart said cutting funding to the districts after they reported a surplus was not fair.

"Cutting funding when they were being fiscally prudent isn't fair," he said, adding that the new government in Ottawa has promised to fund education in the North. The Western Arctic Liberal Association's president said he has the connections to get the money flowing.

"We can look toward the federal government who has promised $3.2 billion in new education funding over four years. I know I have the right connections and the right relationships to get that money flowing to the NWT."

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