MLAs call for clarity over junior kindergarten funding
Nahendeh MLA Shane Thompson afraid students with disabilities will be left in the cold
April Hudson
Northern News Services
Thursday, February 16, 2017
DEH CHO
Cabinet's promise to fully fund junior kindergarten is drawing questions from the Nahendeh MLA.
Education Minister Alfred Moses said in the legislative assembly on Feb. 6 his department anticipates junior kindergarten will cost $5.1 million to implement across the remainder of communities in the territory.
"As a government, we have committed to fully fund these ongoing costs for the 2017-18 school year and into the future," Moses said during his minister's statement, adding that the government is also committed to fully funding the entire program.
"We will work with the (school) boards to make the money they need to implement junior kindergarten available to them when it is needed."
But Nahendeh MLA Shane Thompson questioned whether the government's funding commitment takes into account the true cost of the program.
Chief among Thompson's concerns is funding for inclusive schooling, which is applied to students from kindergarten to Grade 12.
As schools bring in junior kindergarten students, he said, children who have learning challenges won't have the support they need for the first year of school if junior kindergarten isn't included in the inclusive schooling initiative.
"Some of the students are going to have learning challenges. The government really needs to look at it and totally fund this," Thompson said.
Skepticism expressed
"I still believe the government is not funding (junior kindergarten) completely," Thompson added
Moses has also said that the funding won't be included in this year's budget.
"Once we know the actual enrolment figures, the government will bring a request for supplementary funding to the legislative assembly in the fall of 2017 to fully fund implementation," Moses told the legislative assembly.
'How are school boards going to plan?' asks MLA
Yellowknife Centre MLA Julie Green, also in assembly, said boards are already working on next year's budget and will have to make staffing decisions by the end of March.
"If the money is not going to be available until the fall, how are school boards going to plan for the implementation of junior kindergarten this fall?" she asked the minister.
"The reductions . is a decision on the school boards themselves, and that is something that they are going to have to go back and look at," Moses said.
The minister also said his department has been working closely with superintendents and that there is still much to discuss with school boards.
Deh Cho could see teacher cutbacks
Declining enrolment numbers in the Deh Cho could mean teaching positions are on the chopping block for the 2017-18 school year. The region includes schools in Fort Providence, Kakisa, Jean Marie River, Fort Liard, Nahanni Butte, Sambaa K'e, Fort Simpson and Wrigley.
Thompson said he has heard from schools that eight positions could be lost across the region.
Considering the region's smaller schools need at least one or two teachers, that means cuts will be felt in Fort Simpson, Fort Liard and Fort Providence, he added.
"The impact would be in the bigger centres," he said.
Dehcho Divisional Education Council superintendent Terry Jaffray confirmed in an e-mail that enrolment has declined in schools within the region although she couldn't say how many teaching positions might be lost.
"We are considering reducing the number of education staff in line with the budget," she stated.
"Until we present the budget to the council and it is approved in June, then I am not able to make more specific information public."
Play-based programming could pose challenges
Thompson said one issue he has been hearing from smaller communities in the region is the impact a play-based program like junior kindergarten could have on current class structures.
"In some of the communities this year - and this is a valid concern - you have junior kindergarten to Grade 4 in the same classroom, or junior kindergarten to Grade 9 in the classroom, and it has a huge impact," he said.
But at the end of the day, Thompson said, he is convinced junior kindergarten will benefit communities - as long as proper funding is in place.
"Overall, people are happy with junior kindergarten in (the Nahendeh) riding, because we've been implementing it from when it first started," he said.
"The education system is trying to implement something I firmly believe would be beneficial for the students. I believe their hearts are in the right spot but their finances aren't."
- with files from Kirsten Fenn
