Territory gives more money for JK program
April Hudson
Northern News Services
Thursday, December 8, 2016
DEH CHO
The GNWT says it's putting up $2 million to offset costs of the territorywide roll-out of junior kindergarten but a school board chair says he's concerned they won't be able to pay for the rest of it.
At a Dec. 6 meeting of Fort Simpson's district education authority, chair Kevin Allen, left, joins secretary Jodie Isaiah and Thomas Simpson Secondary School principal Sherri Thomson. - April Hudson/NNSL photo
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A cost breakdown from the Department of Education, Culture and Employment shows junior kindergarten will cost approximately $5.1 million annually.
In addition, the department will put $2.85 million toward renovating schools and $525,000 toward classroom equipment.
Of the $525,000, each class will be allocated $15,000.
Olin Lovely, assistant deputy minister of corporate services for the department, said on Dec. 5 that junior kindergarten will be funded in part by the new funding and in part by internal re-allocations determined by the district education authorities.
That leaves $2.65 million in junior kindergarten funding for district education authorities to find.
According to documents from Fort Simpson's district education authority, the authority expects a total revenue of $138,000 in the 2016-17 year, with expenditures of $133,000.
That includes $37,000 allocated to local programs and $33,000 located to other programs.
Kevin Allen, the chair of the district education authority, said he was cautious about commenting on the funding model before discussing it with other elected members of the authority. However, he said while he is in favour of the junior kindergarten program, he would like to see the Department of Education, Culture and Employment find the money to cover it.
"I'm all for anything that's going to give our kids an advantage ... but they need to look for the money, not us," Allen said.
"My initial reaction is, how dare they say we have to do something, and then make us pay for it? It's a very unreasonable expectation."
Allen said instead of forcing district education authorities to find the funds from their own budgets, the department should look to cut some of its own management staff.
A school-by-school breakdown of funding was not available at press time. However, Lovely said for the 34 district education authorities and 49 public schools in the territory, funding is allocated based on enrollment.
"In any given year, the enrollment numbers may go up or may go down, and the funding corresponds with that," he said.
The department will be completing its engagement process this month and aims to finalize its implementation plan for junior kindergarten in January.
According to the department, 53 per cent of five-year-old children in small communities were behind in their growth and development in 2014.
Sylvia Haener, deputy minister for the department, said the tool the department uses to measure development levels for students showed an across-the-board improvement for children who attended junior kindergarten, although she noted those measurements are only based on one year of data.
"It's promising information and it is giving us a sense that junior kindergarten is making a difference for kids," she said.
