Education Minister Makes Statement

Honourable Juliana O’Connor Connolly, JP, MLA, Minister of Education, Youth, Sports, Agriculture & Lands

Statement in relation to the Exceptional Circumstance Appropriation changes resulting in the 1st 2020 Supplementary Appropriations of the Ministry of Education, Youth, Sports, Agriculture & Lands

Mister Speaker,

Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to bring to the attention of this Honourable House, the exceptional circumstances appropriation changes which have resulted in the Supplementary Appropriations initiated by the Ministry of Education, Youth, Sports, Agriculture & Lands for 2020.

Mister Speaker, Cabinet was asked to consider and approve the following requests for reallocation within the Ministry of Education, Youth, Sports, Agriculture & Lands appropriation lines for the 2020 expenditure as follows:

Compulsory Education & Nursery Pilot

Pilot of nursery class – After school care and holiday care

The continuation of the introduction of the pilot nursery class in Cayman Brac resulted in a reallocation of $234,946, to provide afterschool care, holiday child care and daily meals for nursery-aged students (aged 3 years), at the Creek Infant School in Cayman Brac, commencing February 2020 to December 2020. This was inclusive of staff to support this program to ensure health and safety of the nursery students. Savings in DES operations (security and transportation) were utilized from EGA 8 Facilities Maintenance and Operational School Support Services and re-allocated to EGA 5 Primary Education Services. 

Students’ laptop initiative

A one-to-one laptop initiative will see the provision of laptops in 2020 for all students in Government Schools to be used at home and at school to access learning resources during the Covid-19 crisis and beyond.

$1,090,040 was transferred from EI 12 Capital to EGA 10 Education, Early Childhood and Support Services for the ICT operations. This was utilized for helpdesk support either in house or outsourced, software licensing for additional devices, additional bandwidth/updated internet connections in all schools and for pedagogical support/training.

There was also an increase in ICT Capital in the amount of $1,875,000 to purchase laptops and additional wireless equipment (Wireless Access Points for all schools to up-grade the wireless network to accommodate the additional laptop use).

Covid-19 Related Transfer of Funding

Grants to operational providers – Education & Agriculture

In March 2020 the Cayman Islands implemented curfew/movement restrictions in response to the COVID 19 pandemic.  In conjunction with these restrictions many activities including all educational facilities in the Cayman Islands were closed and thus several contracted vendors were unable to provide contracted services since the end of March 2020.  Upon advice (from the Ministry of Finance), funds were transferred to a new transfer payment (TP 97), in order to consider grant funding to main contracted vendors in this regard. This step was recommended from a humanitarian perspective, where contracted vendors eg. Bus Contractors, had contracted staff who were experiencing cash flow difficulties due to non-payment. 

As a result, budgeted funds were transferred to TP 97 Education, Agriculture and Land Services - Covid Response and Recovery as follows:

• From EGA 8 Facilities Maintenance and Operational School Support Services in the amount of CI$1,933,433 to support janitorial, security and transportation
• From TP 61 Student Enrichment and Supports Services in the amount of CI$138,266
• From TP 27 Pre-school Educational Assistance in the amount of CI$208,098,
• From NGS 24 Spaying and Neutering of Dogs & Cats in the amount of CI$7,500

Grants to operational providers – Youth and Sports Services

There were also transfers from other transfer payment (TPs) and non-government services (NGSs) appropriations related to Youth and Sports Services.  These transfers were similarly made on the advice of the Ministry of Finance to be able to facilitate the feasibility of paying the contracted vendors despite non-delivery of the contracted services due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Funds were transferred to TP 98 Youth and Sports Services - Covid Response and Recovery in the amount of $847,116, and the following appropriations were decreased:

Covid-19 Related Funds for Private Schools

Based on feedback from stakeholders there was the establishment of a special one-time Covid-19 support grant for private schools based on need. TP 93 Private and Public School Grant was increased by $750,000 for this purpose.  A Committee has been established to deal with these special grants chaired by Mr. Dan Scott. Private schools that required financial assistance as a result of the impact of Covid-19 were required to apply for consideration.

Private schools that needed financial assistance were required to provide specific information in order to inform and validate the grant process.

Covid-19 Related Funds for Grants to Farmers

TP 84 Grants to Farmers was increased by CI$1million dollars.  The Ministry in consultation with the Department of Agriculture (DoA), the Cayman Islands Agricultural Society, and local agriculture stakeholders will be providing farmers with assistance in the purchasing of agricultural inputs from the Department of Agriculture.  Farmers will be approved for assistance through application to the Ministry.  The Ministry will issue this approval to the applicant and the DoA.  The farmer can then collect the inputs from the DoA.  The Ministry will then transfer monies to the DoA to cover cost of the inputs purchased by the farmer.

Conclusion

Mister Speaker, thank you for allowing me to explain the exceptional circumstances which have resulted in the Supplementary Appropriations initiated by the Ministry of Education, Youth, Sports, Agriculture & Lands for the 2020 fiscal year thus far.