Some provincial money has been allocated towards supporting students with the Invitational Shared Services Initiative partnerships between Treaty Six Education Council and each of the two school divisions.
The Government of Saskatchewan has allocated $150,000 each to Light of Christ School Division and Living Sky School Division to manage operation of their agreements.
"The dollars are flowed to the provincial school divisions," TSEC Director of Education Pat Bugler said to reporters.
"Because it originally was two agreements with Living Sky and Light of Christ, again at our table I said we have another high school in town here," he said, referring to Sakewew. "We want to include that, we want to see the same program right across the board, so that when kids move from school to school to school, they'll see the same thing happening."
That money goes to personnel and programming that will include graduation "coaches" with one each assigned to North Battleford Comprehensive, John Paul II and Sakewew.
The partnerships are in response to a recommendation from the Joint Task Force on Aboriginal Employment and Education report that was released last year.
Legislative Secretary to the Minister of Education Russ Marchuk, along with, Light of Christ Catholic School Division Director of Education Herb Sutton, and Living Sky School Division Director of Education Randy Fox, were on hand for the announcement Friday.
"These ISSI partnerships align with the Education Sector Strategic Plan and are designed to put the student first," Marchuk said in a statement. "Through partnerships such as these, we come another step closer to meeting the needs of all Saskatchewan students regardless of where in the province they reside."
According to the province's news release the ISSI brings together the provincial education system and First Nations education organizations so students living on reserve benefit from the same supports to students and teachers that are available in provincial schools.
The partnership between Treaty Six Education Council and Living Sky has been created to produce a collaborative process that will build on the work already completed aimed at addressing issues in ensuring improved academic success for First Nations students in Living Sky and in TSEC member bands.
The intent of the partnership is to reflect the Education Sector Strategic Plan, particularly the priority to address First Nations and Métis learning outcomes. It is designed to increase engagement, educational success and graduation rates of First Nations students.
The hope was expressed by school divisions that graduation rates will be enhanced and that their graduation goals will be met by the initiative.
