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Campaign: Real change for students with a disability

Public policy - Campaigns Written by Stephen O'Doherty
Friday, 30 July 2010 00:00

There has been a significant development in our campaign for fair funding for students with disabilities, with the Opposition releasing a policy that would for the first time provide real equity between sectors. This is unambiguously good news. It addresses a glaring injustice and will be welcomed across the country.

The measure announced today by Tony Abbott and Christopher Pyne would cement the principle that students with disabilities are entitled to have the same support wherever they go to school, by creating a nexus between the student, their level of need and their entitlement to a certain level of funding to meet that need.

The Disability Education Card would provide up to $ 20,000 per annum for students with disabilities, to be paid directly to the school of their choice. The commitment is to phase it in over eight years, with students in the severe category being the first to qualify. While we have urged the Coalition to bring forward this timetable, we acknowledge however the significant funding issues involved.

Christopher Pyne has also committed to achieving common definitions for disability nationally, a process that will be governed by MCEEDYA.

The Coalition's policy gives expression to the changes we have been campaigning for across successive parliaments, and we welcome it. Read more about the background here.

Labor's policy commits to common definitions, but not to the principle of portability. The ALP will await the outcomes of the Review of Funding.

A summary of the partys' responses to our campaign is now available:

icon Students with Disabilities

Ongoing campaign

Our online campaign for real change continues. Thank you to those who have already contributed their comments and stories.

Our challenge is to try to raise awareness of this issue among all parties and candidates, and get them to support our policy framework for funding students with disabilities.

Obviously we are hoping that the Labor Party will endorse these principles in its own policy, which is yet to be released.

We have prepared an open letter to candidates which we urge you to share with your local candidates, adding your own comments and local perspectives.

How you can help

  1. Please pray that in this election, policy makers will clearly hear the message about the needs for change, and that they will respond with positive, genuine solutions.
  2. We would love you to add your comments below in support of our campaign asking for real change for students with a disability.
  3. Support our Open letter to candidates by writing to your own candidates for their response. To find your electorate go here.

Resources

icon Opposition Disabilities Education Card Policy

icon Opposition Disabilities Education Card Release

icon A Fair Go for Students With Disabilities (CSA policy, 2009)

 

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Alan Lawson said:

Doing Our Best
We are a small school with a number of students with disabilities. We work hard to provide growing levels of adequate support for these wonderful children, but struggle under the current, inequitable system. Parents are fully aware of this, yet feel strongly about sending their children to our school, even though they know we get significantly less funding. We are not a "well off" school. Though our school finances are very tight, we are compelled by our commitment to these children to allocate significant levels of our own funds to provide extra staffing and other resources to help. But even with this, the situation is significantly underfunded, inequitable and inadequate to provide these children with the current support they need now as well as to realise the wonderful potential that is in them for their future.
July 29, 2010

Daryl Porter said:

Physical education Teacher
I believe that when teaching children with a wide variety of disabilities it is important that standards are developed depending on their age and type of disbaility. Each and every child develops at different rates and within frameworks such as SACSA there are standard that students must reach completing a year level or subject. This framweork is developed for the average student not taking into consideration students with disabilites. I believe that with such a framework for students with a disability will help teachers to develop an alernate program with modified outcomes based on their type of disability (strengths and weaknesses).
July 29, 2010

Steve Campbell said:

Head of Maths
The wide range of abilities and competencies in Maths are aspects that all teachers face constantly. Their desire to educate professionally ensure that students of all learning types and stages are have adequate learning opportunities. Students with disabilities, though not their fault,often place their teachers in places of significant stress because it is on top of what is "normally" expected and what can be reasonably delivered in any one class room. Equitable funding means that small schools like ours have the opportunity to provide assistance and to play an important part in the total picture of providing eduaction and learning opportunities for all who seek it in this town.
July 29, 2010

Larry Gunn said:

Funding Inequity
My daughter is physically and intellectually disabled. In 1999 she was attending a public school and was receiving around $25000 a year for an aide. Our three sons were attending a Christian School at the time and we decided that as we valued our daughter the same as our sons we should move her to the Christian School so that she too would receive a Christian Education. Unfortunately, her funding was subsequently reduced to around $3000 a year. To allow our daughter to attend school my wife became her full-time aide (for a salary of $3000) and continued in that position for the next 8 years. During those 8 years my daughter missed out on over $200,000 of funding which would have been available to her if we had simply moved her back to the public school. Despite both our families having a long history in Australia and both being tax payers who have contributed three strong, intelligent sons to the future of Australia, our daughter has been discriminated against based on the simple choice of school. This has been particularly hard on my wife who has listened to education ministers make promises about the review of the disability funding situation in schools for the past 10 years. My wife has often been frustrated that she was unable to contribute to the family finances by earning a decent salary and still continues to care for our daughter on a full-time basis. There is a tremendous cost to families that have children with disabilities both financially and and personally (emotionally). Despite all of this we would not have done anything differently because we love our daughter and want to give her our best. It is our hope that ANY Australian government that is elected in August will have the strength, integrity and commitment to change this inequitable situation.
July 29, 2010

Terrence McCorkell said:

Principal
Groves Christian College is an independent school in Queensland which educates a large number of students who have special needs. It's not uncommon for parents to bring their children to our school in an effort to find a school which offers Christian Independent education AND also caters for the significant educational needs of their children. The difficult they face if they are bringing their children from another sector is the disparity between levels of support provided for their children in each sector. Just to give these children what they need, we currently spend large amounts (hundreds of thousands) of our regular recurrent income to top up the small offering made by governments to these children. If we were funded on an equal footing with others we would be able to offer something much more suitable to their needs.
July 29, 2010

Jennifer Parker said:

Special Education Coordinator
We are a small rural school that is in dire straits across the board in terms of literacy needs. We have a particularly high rate of children presenting with speech and reading difficulties requiring early and ongoing intervention. At the moment there is a 6-8 month waiting list at the local Speech Pathology Clinic. We also have a high percentage of children presenting with Autism Spectrum Disorder, Asperges, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, other learning disabilities and mental health problems. We are known to accept children that have not made it in the public school, which further increases the workload for our teachers, as they have to run remedial programs for these particular children. As an independent school, we rarely have access to the health care and educational specialists that these children so need. Being in a critically depressed socioeconomic area the extra funds required for the high costs of specialists, such as Educational Psychologists, to conduct the assessments we need to be able to program for, are not available to us. Therefore, the children, their parents and their teachers are really struggling under the weight of the huge need for off-campus intervention and the necessary information and personnel required to facilitate it in the classroom. While it is great to keep track of how students, teachers and schools are succeeding through the My School space, there also needs to be an accountability in terms of action taken for the needs of schools struggling to keep up with the specialize requirements these children need, before they can even start to perform well on the NAPLAN. Once this is accomplished then real action is required in bringing equitable funds to the schools that are in the greatest need. Please hear our cry for help!
July 29, 2010

Sue Berry said:

Disadvantaged children
As a special education teacher in a small school, it is of constant concern that children with special needs are not adequately catered for. The amount of funding we receive for these children is only enough for a few extra resources. It is never enough to employ an extra teacher's aide to help support these children in the classroom. Consequently, both students and teachers suffer. I am sure there would be many similar testimonies to Larry Gunn's cited above. It is time to see euality in our education system and give adequate support to these already disadvantaged children.
July 29, 2010

Meg Baker said:

Support Team Coordinator
I oversee a team of nine part-time teachers and aides at our K-12 school. Out of a total enrollment of 580 students we have 30 students at present who are integrated, ranging in disability from language difficulties, mental illness, Autism Spectrum and intellectual disability. The total funding for our integrated students from Federal Government Targeted Grants is the equivalent of one aide's salary (about $45 000 p.a.). The rest of the support cost is carried by the school.
Just one example, our severely disabled student with Down Syndrome received $30 000 p.a. in his previous state school. At our school he only receives $7 6000 p.a.
July 29, 2010

Catrina Moller said:

A Question of Discrimination
Mueller College is committed to promoting inclusive policies & practice for students with disabilities from enrolment through to reporting. As a result we have seen a significant increase in the number of student with disabilies in our school, and are struggling to cope with the ever-increasing needs. I was recently working with a team of teachers discussing the issues regarding disability, discrimination and the responsibilities & accountability for school communities. The discussion moved to inequality in government funding for students with special needs in non-government schools, and as a result, the limited choices for some families. One teacher raised the obvious question- "But isn't THAT discrimination?"
July 29, 2010

Janet Brown said:

Teaching Disabled students in the Visual Arts Room
Writing as a Visual Arts teacher in a small school I would endorse the need for extra funding for assistance with disabled students. Without a teachers aid it is very stressful teaching a class with some disabled students. These students needs vary from cognitive understanding to physical help. With a teachers aid they are able to enjoy the pleasures of being creative and a real sense of achievement in being able to complete the task at least to a satisfactory level. Funding to employ teacher aids to assist disabled students is a high priority.
July 30, 2010

Paquita Ruch said:

Principal
On a very regular basis, I am faced with an enrolment interview with parents of a child with significant disabilities. I try to see each case as individual and search for ways that we can provide an educational service for these students in our caring and wonderful school.
Because of the inequities of funding, I face the heartbrake of sometimes having to tell the parents, that we are unable to cater for their child and that they must reconsider a state school which receives funding for their child's special needs. This has been the case for such a long time and needs urgent attention, so that ALL parents can have the right of choice regarding their child's education.
July 30, 2010

P.Parker said:

Acting Assistant Principal
Equality for students in all education systems is vital. Parents of students with special needs should not be disadvantaged by choosing an independent school for thier child's education. This situation needs to be addressed in the near future.
August 02, 2010

Jenny Axtens said:

High School Teacher and Irlen Syndrome Diagnostician
As a recently trained Irlen Syndrome Diagnostician I have contact with a number of students from a variety of schools and school systems and I am particulalry aware of the disparity in the way students with this particular disability are treated. It is really important that students receive the apporpriate support and resources whichever school they are in.
August 10, 2010

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