Yellowknife (May 25/05) - Yellowknife Catholic school trustees have passed a $19 million budget.

The district will be at a standstill with a cap on enrolment at Ecole St. Joseph and a growing waiting list at Weledeh. Ecole St. Patrick high school doesn't have a cap.

The territorial government will contribute $13 million based on a September 2004 enrolment of 1,553.5 students.

The district expects 1,575 students to be in its schools next year.

Chairperson Shannon Gullberg called it a "good budget that will get us through the next year," though she expressed concern over the capacity issue.

"It's frustrating. We know that our schools are full. We've certainly made that known to the minister (of education) and the public and our parents," she said after the unanimous vote May 18.

There will be 1.1 fewer teachers next year (that includes classroom and student support teachers and literacy instructors), but two additional Dogrib language support staff.

"That has a significant impact on the hiring of teachers, because you have to take that funding that's given for Aboriginal programming and use it in a very specific way," said Gullberg.

The pupil-teacher ration will rise from 14.77 last year to 19.97 in 2005/2006. The GWNT target is 16 students to one teacher.

The district will spend $12 million of this year's budget on school programs, $3,168,462 on inclusive schooling, $1,631,632 on maintenance and $1,014,638 on administration.

The district surplus will stand at $335,107, which is 2.6 per cent of the GNWT core funding.

The government recommends a surplus of 5-10 per cent of core funding.