Archived - Audit of the Elementary and Secondary Education Program - Follow-up Report Status Update as of March 31, 2010

Education Branch will work with Regional Directors General and the Resource Management Directorate to assess the global allocation methodology, and the consistency of regional funding methodologies currently in place.

Regional Operations will take the lead on the assessment of the regional allocation methodologies.

The assessment will include an analysis of the education funding pressures as a whole, particularly in light of rising provincial school tuition rates and changes in provincial program delivery approaches.

Update/Rationale:
As of 31/03/2010:

Education Branch and Regions have begun reviewing the various methodologies currently in place. Manitoba held the first Meeting in Saskatchewan Regional Office February 24th, 2010.

AES: Close

These MOUs and/or more robust agreements will contain appropriate tuition and services clauses.

Update/Rationale:
As of 30/09/2010:

This process is moving forward well. Several new MOUs have been signed by the Government of Canada, the provinces and First Nation regional organizations. Currently, 6 of 7 MOUs (BC, AB, MB, NB, NS and PEI) have funding agreement clauses which commit the parties to pursue improved tuition/services agreements.

AES: Close

Update/Rationale:
As of 30/09/2010:

Education Branch and Regions have developed a model of an evaluation plan that integrates elements of the school success plan (effectiveness of school improvement) and the current evaluation, in a standard format (DCI) to be administered every five years. A regional implementation plan to phase in evaluations has been developed.

AES: Close

These MOUs and/or more robust agreements will contain appropriate tuition and service clauses.

Once MOUs/agreements are in place, Regional Directors General will put in place a process to track their implementation.

An action plan will be developed based on regional best practices to ensure that a consistent process is established across regions for reconciling the amounts paid in tuition.

Update/Rationale:
As of 30/09/2010:

The Education Branch has developed a Resource Guide for Tuition Agreements with appropriate tuition and services clauses for inclusion in MOUs. An action plan has been developed as part of the Tuition Project Charter. The Tuition agreement will be tracked by the revised DCIs.

AES: Close

This work is currently part of the branch's new Performance Measurement System for Education (PMSE) and will provide the capacity to link financial and non-financial data through INAC's Enterprise Data Warehouse (previously not possible) allowing for improved analysis, evaluation and reporting against school performance measures.

September 2012 is the forecasted date for the PMSE to be fully implemented

Update/Rationale:
As of 31/03/2010:

NOTE: Education Information System (EIS), formerly known as PMSE

AES: Close

• HQ in regard to the provision of support and guidance to regional offices and monitoring of Program delivery; and
• Regions with regard to a risk based approach to monitoring and compliance.

These roles will be clearly articulated in the Compliance Directive.

Update/Rationale:
As of 31/03/2010:

The Education Management Control Framework is completed

The draft of a revised Compliance Directive is completed. Feedback from Regions has been sought.

AES: Close

Taking into consideration the department's obligation to ensure due diligence in the monitoring of Program recipients and that funds have been spent for the intended purposes, the Branch will assess reporting to ensure it provides adequate information, based on risk level, while respecting the directives of the New Transfer Payment Policy.

Actions related to the Quality Management Audit will complement efforts made through this Action Plan.

Update/Rationale:
As of 30/09/2010:

The Branch is proceeding with the implementation of the departmental Compliance Plan, utilizing program specific documents. For example, there is a funding agreement tracking form for each funding agreement recipient, a draft, Program Compliance Directive, a Management Control Framework and program specific Management Regime Manuals. In addition, the Data Collection Instruction revisions ensure that the reporting requirements are aligned with the appropriate templates for proposals and reporting requirements. Together, all of these mechanisms are Quality Management processes and assurances that due diligence practices are in place to ensure funding is applied for intended purposes.

AES: Underway

Update/Rationale:
As of 31/03/2010:

The draft revised Compliance Directive is completed. Feedback from the Regions has been sought.

AES: Close

Design elements of the targeted programs will be reviewed during Phase Two of the Reforming First Nation Education initiative.

New Paths was audited as part of the audit on capacity development, and the results of this audit will inform this review.

Update/Rationale:
As of 31/03/2010:

A plan for a review of the national program guidelines of the targeted programs has resulted in action to develop new reporting templates that provide for more adequate/appropriate date reporting to demonstrate results more clearly.

AES: Close

Update/Rationale:
As of 31/03/2010:

The Management Central Framework, and the draft Compliance Directive provide the mechanisms to monitor the continuous improvement of education programs. The planned review of program guidelines will help to ensure programs are managed to achieve the purposes for which they are funded.

AES: Close