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Ben Smith, MP

Ben Smith, MP

738
Speeches
138,286
Words Spoken
67
Sittings Active
16 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
286 words
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and good morning. Good afternoon, I should say. The first thing I would like to do is actually take this opportunity to thank the Minister that just fin-ished reading that brief and to the Minister of Education, because last night they actually sent me the brief in advance to give me an opportunity to read through …
16 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
3,172 words
So now, Mr. Chairman, going toward the questions that arose from listening to the brief that was presented this morning, I would like to start off with Head 16, Ministry of Education Headquarters. We will start with . . . on page B -134. Just skimming through cause some of my questions were obviously answered in the brief. So under …
16 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
41 words
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and good afternoon. I hope everyone had a good break away from the House. When I left, I was continuing on with some discussion around substitute teachers on page B -138. It’s 27160. The Chairman: Thank you.
16 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
719 words
And where I was leaving off was that there is a potential need for teachers to receive some assistance due to some kind of strong issues that happen within that particular job. It can be a stressful job, and we've had some added pressures with what has happened with COVID -19, and now we have education reform. There's been a …
16 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
300 words
So, Mr. Chairman, there seems to be an increase d use of paraprofessionals . I think it would be important for the listening public to understand what the difference between a paraprofessional and a teacher is , what the qualification difference is , what the expected support level is for paraprofessionals , and how we got to a situation where …
16 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
6 words
Which is Hearing. The Chairman: Yes.
16 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
503 words
I just have a question because I know specifically that Gilbert Institute was a school that actually had quite a bit of sign language that was hap-pening in the school . There were some programmes there, specifically . And considering that that school is closing , if we could get some indication of whether that support that was in that …
16 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
10 words
But the actual in this year's [Budget] Book shows $1,723,000.
16 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
3 words
Yes. Correct .
16 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
26 words
So we went, zero- zero, and then $1,723,000. Okay. S o then that makes me then look at what happens next . So in 2024/ 25—
16 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
5 words
—there was also zero budgeted.
16 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
74 words
But the revised shows $ 1,361,000. So once again this is a closed school . Zero is budgeted. And then later on we are seeing a significant number being added to the budget . So, if we could get some clarity . And the reason that that would be important is because in the 2025 /26 budget , it is …
16 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
123 words
So, if you follow the way it has happened up until now , potentially , in next year's Budget Book, we're going to see a significant number that was not budgeted that appears for a school that's closed. So, I think we really need to get some clarity on how that happened because all indications that one of the major …
16 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
142 words
—looking at Clearwater M iddle School , which has obviously had its budget reduced, because that facility is closed. And it is $497,000 so I guess the first step would be, C an we get some clarity of what the $497,000 is in relation to when it comes to Clearwater Middle School ? I would understand that the big number …
16 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
2 words
Yes, correct.
16 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
537 words
Mr. Chairman, I'm moving on to 1708 which is the S enior Schools . So at this time, really what I'd like to see is , How are we assessing the data that is being collected from our senior schools ? We have a significant budget . You've seen the budget increase for both schools . Obviously , there is …
16 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
18 words
But then you look at the revised, it was $764[,000] and now we are budgeting at $1.25 [million].
16 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
73 words
So the question is, If we were able to reduce the energy significantly in this last year , why are we budgeting such a higher number this time around? And if that is the case, are we looking at any ways of adding renewable energy to try to reduce this cost going forward? Mr. Chairman, I'm now going to move …
16 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
16 words
So, starting at the . . . we're going to start at 1702, Student Services .
16 May 2025 House of Assembly
Official Hansard Report - House of Assembly
73 words
And the percentage of students for whom intervention plans were created with fidelity is 100 per cent. That's what the performance measure says here. So can the Minister please provide how many students required . . . Right? Because it's 100 per cent but 100 per cent of what ? What was the total number that led to the 100 …