Yk1 passes a motion requesting fully funded junior kindergarten
All three Yellowknife school boards put up united front on issue
John McFadden
Northern News Services
Wednesday, December 21, 2016
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Yellowknife Education District No. 1 (Yk1) trustees have unanimously passed a motion requesting the territorial government fully fund the implementation of junior kindergarten.
This is the latest salvo in the battle between school boards and the GNWT over how much money the government will provide for the program and how much funding the school boards will be responsible to come up with when it comes into effect in Yellowknife next fall.
The government has said that it will provide $2 million in funding for junior kindergarten, leaving school boards to cover about $3.1 million of the overall cost. The price tag for individual school boards won't be known until enrolment figures are tabulated next fall. School boards have made it clear cuts to other programs and services will happen if they have to provide 14 grades of schooling with only 13 grades of funding.
Yk1 chair John Stephenson said the motion will not come as any great surprise to Education, Culture and Employment Minister Alfred Moses, his department staff or regular MLAs.
He said he may send a letter containing the motion to GNWT officials but added he still had to give some thought as to how he would present it to the government.
He added that given the interest in - and controversy surrounding - the rollout of junior kindergarten, there may be a town hall meeting early in the new year involving school boards, the GNWT and the public.
Although the proposed funding model is not ideal, Stephenson said junior kindergarten is happening, so the board must move forward with planning for it.
"There will be issues. It will not be perfect," he said. "But I predict that in two or three years it will be a normal part of the school system. We will have 14 grades in the education system."
The motion was introduced by trustee Terry Brookes. He said the program will obviously work best if it is fully funded by the government but added he has full confidence in Yk1 staff to do their best regardless of the funding.
"I've been on this board many years and we've gone through cuts," he said.
"I do want to say to the public - we as a district, our staff, our administration - they're going to do the best damn job they can with whatever funding we've got. Kids are going to get ... the best damn education they can get. I just wish there was more to support them."
There was no such motion Wednesday night at the Yellowknife Catholic Schools (YCS) board meeting. However, board chair Miles Welsh said the school boards have a united front on the junior kindergarten issue.
"Since the beginning of junior kindergarten several years ago, we always said we support junior kindergarten. We think it is a wonderful program but we can't support it without full funding. ECE is well aware of our position," Welsh said.
Yvonne Careen, superintendent of the NWT's Commission Scolaire de Francophone, echoed the two other Yellowknife boards' stance.
"We as superintendents have decided to work together to keep pushing on this issue of fully funded junior kindergarten. That's the stance we are taking - all together," she said.
