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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Despite a big loss in territorial funding due to declining enrolment, the Yk1 school board said in a board meeting on Tuesday that they look to maintain a $1.5 million surplus over the next year.

"One-point-five (million) is a very responsible number. It is the number recommended by our auditors as a safe surplus - approximately five per cent of our revenues," said Tram Do, the board's director of corporate services.

"That number can also help ease a sharp downturn in enrolment next year if it happens. We're seeing a lot of negative economic indicators, so we want to make sure we have enough of a buffer to soften the economic impact of a steep enrolment decline."

Enrolment has declined, this year, in all schools except for Range Lake North. There are 87 students less in Yk1 schools than last year, resulting in $1 million less in funding from the Department of Education, Culture, and Employment. "At the same time we're seeing a big increase in the support of Yellowknife taxpayers," said Do.

Yk1 superintendent Metro Huculak told Yellowknifer after the meeting that municipal tax revenue to the school board has gone up.

"There's a corporate tax on business, and there's a tax on homeowners, so some people have changed their taxes, or changed their percentages over to Yk1. We've been going up each year a bit. Right now it's approximately $5.3 million (per year)," said Huculak.

Carpentry for elementary students

Metro Huculak announced at the board meeting that they were planning to open up the "industrial arts" program to all Yk1 elementary students in Yellowknife.

Right now William MacDonald School runs their "exploratories" - courses in a variety of subjects, similar to electives - "in six day cycles, but because we have to bus the students from Mildred Hall and Range Lake, we're looking at four periods per six day cycle," Huculak told Yellowknifer.

Each student taking the "exploratory" would get to use the facilities at William MacDonald once every six day cycle.

"There's a lab with all the carpentry tools and so on. It's a beautiful lab. We updated it two years ago. All new machines and so on," said Huculak.

Yk1 delegates return from Australia

Three Yk1 employees recently returned from the World Indigenous Peoples Conference in Melbourne, Australia, and gave a presentation to the board at the meeting on Tuesday.

The employees were aboriginal education coordinator Shannon Payne, along with teachers DiAnn Blesse, aboriginal studies department head at Sir John Franklin High School, and David Radcliffe, the Yk1 Dene Kede facilitator.

Attending the conference were more than 3,000 delegates "representing hundreds of indigenous nations from around the world, traveling from 23 countries," Payne said during their presentation.

The conference had a lot to do with aboriginal education and how to keep culture alive.

"Some of the same things they are focusing on are some of the same things we have been talking about - high expectations for students, quality teaching programs, valuing indigenous knowledge, enhancing the community's perception of schools, and placing a significance on aboriginal programming," said Payne, adding that they also talked about strategies to integrate aboriginal education, as opposed to just have it as an add-on.

Payne said conversations with people they met in Australia have encouraged the board to open communication with aboriginal people around the world. Aboriginal students in the NWT could correspond with kids around the world to gain a broad perspective of how others are maintaining their culture.