Blake Ellis/The Independent

Lambton-Kent District School Board passed a $383 million balanced budget for the 2025-26 school year but local Indigenous leaders are concerned. 

While Trustee Roberta Northmore called it a wonderful budget during the June 24 meeting, she did not support it saying there was no consultation with the four First Nations within the Lambton-Kent boundaries. 

Northmore called the lack of consultation a neglect of the education service agreements the First Nations have signed with the school board and not adhering to truth and reconciliation efforts. 

Lambton-Kent District School Board Director of Education Gary Girardi acknowledged there was not consultation with First Nations on the budget. He says the school board wasn’t given much time, as the core funding received from the provincial government was not announced until May 23. 

One of the big issues First Nations may be concerned about is a cut in funding for Indigenous services.

Over 50 equivalent full-time education assistant positions are being cut in the next school year. It is due to a loss in funding of $2.8 million from Jordan’s Principle, a federal program which helps to ensure First Nations children have access to public services and supports without experiencing service gaps or denials due to their Indigenous identity.

The funding cut amounts to a loss of 37 equivalent full-time education assistants in the elementary schools and 19 equivalent full time education assistants in the high schools. 

Girardi explained this loss in funding is due to changes to the Jordan’s Principle program at the federal level. 

Northmore asked if the school board has reached out to the four First Nations chiefs within the district to discuss the change in funding to Jordan’s Principle. Girardi said he would reach out and have that conversation with the First Nations leadership.

McKay said while the funding has changed for the coming school year, the school board is still owed $2.3 million from Jordan’s Principle for the past 18 to 20 months.

Core education funding received from the province amounts to $310 million with capital funding coming in at $35 million and $5.5 million coming from tuition fees from Indigenous and VISA students. 

Discretionary funding is really down to zero percent, said Associate Director of Corporate Services Brian McKay.

It used to be that the school board had one percent of funding where trustees had room to make decisions. That has now been cut to half a percent. At this point, if trustees wanted to fund a new program, it would have to cut an existing program to make that happen, said McKay.