The Yukon flag waves outside the Yukon Legislature. Photo Courtesy of Macklen Linke/CKRW.
Whitehorse, YT – Yukon’s First Nation School Board and the Commission scolaire francophone du Yukon are urging the next government to overhaul school funding, particularly for rural and remote communities.
Representatives from both boards say current funding is late and fails to account for the higher costs of small, remote schools as funding gaps form due to a funding formula based largely on enrollment.
“This has created prolonged funding gaps and insufficient funding for the school board,” said First Nation School Board Trustee Dana Tizya-Tramm. “In our short tenure as a school board, we have already been forced to seek loans, as well as bridge financing between [Third-Party Administrators] and draw from reserves to cover operational costs.”
They are calling for a transparent, predictable funding formula that distinguishes between department-level services and school-level needs while covering essential board operations such as HR, insurance and travel.
The boards indicated that they have met with all major political parties and are looking for a government willing to engage as partners from day one.
Tizya-Tramm encourages voters to keep Education in mind when they cast their ballots on Nov. 3.
“We cannot afford politics or disorganization to be shouldered for our futures of all of our students in the Yukon, Indigenous and non Indigenous, together.”
