YELLOWKNIFE (June 4, 2014) – Minister of Education, Culture and Employment Jackson Lafferty yesterday provided information to the Legislative Assembly about the planned implementation of Junior Kindergarten across the Northwest Territories over the next three years.
“Junior Kindergarten is a long-term investment in the education and health of our children,” said Minister Lafferty. “It is critical that people have all the facts on how Junior Kindergarten will be funded and implemented as they consider this important, complicated issue so we can have a fair and informed debate on this initiative and the benefits it will provide to the children of the Northwest Territories.”
Minister Lafferty tabled a Junior Kindergarten Information Kit that provides background on Junior Kindergarten, the Government of the Northwest Territories’ (GNWT) financial investment in the education system, dedicated funding for Inclusive Schooling and the NWT’s Pupil-Teacher Ratio (PTR). The information kit also looked at the projected impact of implementing Junior Kindergarten on the two Yellowknife school boards, Yellowknife Catholic Schools (YCS) and Yellowknife Education District No. 1 (YK1).
Key details outlined in the package include:
- The GNWT spent $22,202 per student in 2010-2011, one of the best-funded education systems in Canada.
- Over 90% of the funding that Education Authorities receive is the direct result of the number of students attending school and it increases or decreases when enrolment changes.
- Junior Kindergarten is recognized across the country as one of the best ways to provide high quality, free, safe and optional learning for our children that can positively affect everything from graduation rates to health and well-being outcomes.
- Junior Kindergarten students will be counted in the same way as other K-12 students as far as funding amounts are concerned.
- All NWT Education Authorities will be asked to implement Junior Kindergarten within existing funding. Authorities that exceed the legislated PTR of 16:1 will receive additional, new money.
School boards in Yellowknife will experience temporary reductions over the next three years as Junior Kindergarten is implemented, totaling $1,537,000 for YK1 and $1,137,000 for YCS. Funding in Yellowknife will begin to increase when both districts begin enrolling Junior Kindergarten students in 2016-17. Based on separate conservative and optimistic enrolment projections, YK1 will see its funding increase by between $1,140,000 (low enrolment projection) and $1,252,000 (high enrolment projection). YCS will see its funding increase by between $580,000 (low enrolment) and $1,015,000 (high enrolment projection). The budget increases will be ongoing and the actual funding amounts will depend on future enrolment rates.
“Junior Kindergarten is a good program,” said Minister Lafferty. “I am convinced that an education system that costs the public in excess of $150 million a year can afford to add such an important program for the small cost of $7.4 million a year.”
The complete information package is available at: http://www.ece.gov.nt.ca/.
For more information:
Jacqueline McKinnon
Education, Culture and Employment
Phone: (867) 920-6222
Email: jacqueline_mckinnon@gov.nt.ca