Changes to the School Act made through Bill 40 require that each board establish and maintain an Indigenous Education Council (IEC). Maintaining an IEC means that the school district will provide the secretariat support and fund activities and costs related to the IEC under the direction of the IEC.
The ministry is allocating $5.67 million in operating grants for the 2024/25 school year to help implement Bill 40 specifically for IECs. District allocations for the 2024/25 school year are available in Table 14 of the 2024/25 Estimated Operating Grants. Funds are expected to flow to school districts in early summer.
This new funding is the subject of targeted spending under section 106.4 of the School Act. As such, the funds allocated to each district must be spent according to the direction of the Minister. As Deputy Minister, I am pleased to outline those directions on the Minister’s behalf.
The new sections of the School Act—see sections 87.001 to 87.005—require, where grants are targeted under section 106.4, that the IEC must approve the board’s plan for the grant and the board’s spending of the grant; and after the grant is spent, approve the board’s report on the grant’s spending.
The funding must be used to support IEC activities and build capacity, including a secretariat and administrative support, the costs of holding meetings on a reasonable schedule, and IEC member travel to attend these meetings.
IEC Spending Criteria:
The following are examples of eligible targeted spending areas to support IECs:
IEC capacity building – This spending must be towards professional development focused on building knowledge and understanding for the members of the IEC in carrying out their duties and functions of the IEC. Capacity building may include assisting members of the IEC to attend provincial gatherings or other annual meetings such as the Jointly Convened Annual Meeting.
Each school district will work with the IEC to identify an individual to act as secretariat to the IEC. Functions of the secretariat may include coordination and support of meetings and setting agenda topics (e.g: FESL, Feeding Futures, Annual Report, etc.). Under the direction of the IEC, the secretariat will liaise with the district on specific topics, including the planning, spending an reporting of Indigenous education targeted funds.
IEC support – This consists of supporting the secretariat and the IEC in coordinating and fulfilling administrative tasks associated with the IEC such as member travel, meeting costs, room costs, food and beverages, and stipends or honoraria for members or guests.
Reporting
- School districts will be required to return a completed report to the ministry as part of the Indigenous Education Financial Report, due September 29, 2025.
- A reporting template will be distributed and will ask for spending on maintaining and supporting the IEC including:
- Number of IEC members
- Membership of IEC, including chair
- Frequency of meetings
- Goods, services, used to maintain and support the IEC including food purchased and provided and related spending
- Spending related to the secretariat including salaries and benefits or portions
- Administrative costs to directly support the secretariat and the IEC, including costs incurred in establishing the IEC
- Spending related to meetings such as room or equipment usage
- Spending on travel for district staff and for IEC members
- Spending on professional development for IEC members, including attending provincial meetings
- Any stipends or honoraria for IEC members or guests
- Any surplus for the IEC targeted amounts as reported in school district
- Financial statements, should be identified as an Internally Restricted amount within the Accumulated Operating Surplus
- Additional core funding used to support the IEC
- For budgeting and financial statement reporting, funding for Indigenous Education Councils (Table 14 of the 2024/25 Estimated Operating Grants) is reported as Operating revenue. Related expenditures should be reported in Program 4.40 – School District Governance. Spending of the Supplement for Indigenous Education (Table 4b of the 2024/25 Estimated Operating Grants) is to be reported in Program 1.31 – Indigenous Education.
Future Considerations
- Please note that the factors used to allocate the IEC funding envelope for 2024/25 are an attempt to address estimated costs and may be adjusted in further years based on reports from districts on how funds were spent and reported pressures and surpluses.