Whitehorse Daily Star

Image title

Photo by Whitehorse Star

Education Minister Tracy-Anne McPhee

School given more money for sub teachers: YG

Just days after the territory’s Education minister assured that there would be no scaling-back of budgets that would impact program delivery at schools,

By Palak Mangat on November 8, 2018

Just days after the territory’s Education minister assured that there would be no scaling-back of budgets that would impact program delivery at schools, the premier stepped in Wednesday to confirm this.

Sandy Silver explained Wednesday that despite his colleague’s efforts, there still seemed to be some misleading information out there.

“There’s not going to be any cuts to programs and services in education,” he said definitively after question period.

It comes just days after Tracy-Anne McPhee, the Education minister, verified that there was no change in school budgets that would impact program delivery at either Wood Street or any other school.

She did make reference to an increase in the budget for substitute teachers at the site in the house though.

A department spokesperson verified this morning that for the year of 2017-18, the amount set aside specifically for substitute teachers at Wood Street sat at about $5,568.

Come 2018-19, that number bumped up to $100,000 (an increase of $94,432).

McPhee had gotten the numbers mixed up in the house. She said there had been an increase in the budget from one year to another by 94.4 per cent (from about $5,500 to about $100,000 this time around).

By those accounts, the budget would be around $10,692 for this year rather than the $100,000, as verified by department spokesperson Jason Mackey.

In fact, Mackey explained, there was an actual increase in the dollar amount of $94,432 from year to year, not of a percentage as mentioned by the minister.

Meanwhile, Wood Street Centre was of particular importance because of a recent memo shared with staff and parents asking them to fill out a survey about the effectiveness of the centre.

As reported by CBC North, that note made reference to possible efficiencies being sought across government departments, and noted that the school was being scrutinized.

And earlier this week, also reported by CBC, a memo from a teacher on call feared that they wouldn’t be called in to the school as often. It references that the teacher was told this by others at the school.

Asked Wednesday about what to make of the now-second note expressing anxiety specifically about the Wood Street site, Silver said he sympathized with the individual, but remained steadfast in his echoing of McPhee.

“I feel for this particular teacher, asking these questions and wanting to know.

“And I would say to them, we’re not contemplating those cuts. Again, we’ve been very clear with that.”

Comments (3)

Up 5 Down 2

Upsidedown Land on Nov 14, 2018 at 12:14 am

@Stella You know what's really puzzling? The Yukon Party constantly criticizing the government for daring to try and cut spending. I thought the Yukon Party was supposedly fiscally conservative but just listen to them! They are demanding we stay on the same trajectory and go into debt. They continually talk about how "Yukoners" are very concerned by these cuts to spending blah blah blah when in reality I think Yukoners WANT to see some spending reductions after the YP blew up the size of the bureaucracy over their 3 terms. I actually believe there is no fiscally conservative party in the Yukon and if there was one, it would ironically have to be the Liberals since the YP are demanding that no reductions to the size of government be made. If you don't believe me, just listen to question period some time.

Up 9 Down 3

Stella Gets Her Groove On... on Nov 9, 2018 at 8:32 pm

Stellar Stella - Absolutely hit the nail on the head... “Never actually have to prove what ‘evidence’ is.” This is the fascistic nature of liberal governments. Because I say so. These are the people who hold the ideal that liking something or someone is ‘evidence’ of something. They tend to engage or facilitate mob rule while preaching the virtues of tolerance. They enact boundless hypocrisy and stimulate unproductive workplaces with their unbridaled egocentricity.

Liberals tend to be sycophantic taxationists without regard to the host body. They are the scorpion to the frog... Why did you tax me to death... Now you will die too... Because I am a liberal said the scorpion... It’s in my nature...

Come next October will you show the scorpion who is king or do want to be the frog again?

Up 16 Down 2

Stella on Nov 9, 2018 at 1:51 pm

We want 2% cuts. But we won't make cuts here, here or here. Well really we won't make any cuts. We will keep expanding and growing the bureaucracy by hiring people from out east who will vote for us, and keep promoting poor performers to middle management where hopefully they will do less damage. We will continue to rack up debt, but that will be someone else's problem. We will continue to increase taxes on the working class, I mean they have extra money to blow. We can keep fooling the public by throwing out surveys and pretend we haven't already made up our minds about electoral reform, cannabis, health care or any other issue really. Just keep talking about evidence based decision making, and don't worry, we will never actually have to prove what "evidence" is.
Signed, the Liberals

Add your comments or reply via Twitter @whitehorsestar

In order to encourage thoughtful and responsible discussion, website comments will not be visible until a moderator approves them. Please add comments judiciously and refrain from maligning any individual or institution. Read about our user comment and privacy policies.

Your name and email address are required before your comment is posted. Otherwise, your comment will not be posted.