New funding model a significant step for students with disability

Kristen Desmond says needs-based funding is not the silver bullet but it’s very promising

SCHOOL is back! Isn’t it great I hear parents say. But if you are a parent of a child with disability you may not quite be feeling quite so excited.

The beginning of the year can be a time of trepidation for parents of children with disability. Will the teacher have the right attitude for inclusion? Will they accept and understand my child needs adjustments so they can be included like the rest of the class? Will I get the dreaded call to come and get them because the school can’t cope? You would think the answers would be yes, of course they will be included in school activities and supported all day, especially this year with the implementation of a new Educational Adjustments (needs-based funding) model.

Sadly, the reality is often different. The needs-based model is a huge step for resourcing students with disability, but a funding model on its own is not a silver bullet.

What is happening will be an Australian first, needsbased funding tailored to the individual needs of students. An additional 2000 students get targeted funding this year. Until now funding in Tasmania had been based on a student’s IQ and had nothing to do with classroom needs.

The new model looks at what students require to access education on the same basis as their peers and isn’t reliant on IQ score. It is funding based on adjustments actually being provided by schools not on a promise of what they might provide. The old model was underpinned by a medical model of disability the new model is not. It is underpinned by a rights-based approach. All children with disability are to receive education on the same basis as non-disabled peers.

Did the State Government properly cost the adjustments? We simply don’t know yet. We need to give the model time to settle. Will all children with disability receive the funding they need? Probably not as there are still budgetary constraints and not all schools are making adjustments for students with disability and won’t receive additional funding until they do. We need to give the model time to be implemented, we need to be willing to accept that it won’t be perfect and work together to make it better.

A funding model does not fix attitudes that exclude. It does

not fix teacher training or stop unnecessary exclusion or suspension of students with disability or change schools policies and practices. It does however see a more equitable and transparent distribution of resources to schools providing adjustments for students, who have inclusive practice and value a diverse school community.

We need to remember that students with disability are not “taking resources from other students and parents should not need to apologise for ensuring their child receives the resources they need to participate and succeed. Children with disability don’t have “special needs” or “additional needs” they have the right to be educated like every other child. We need remove the language of burden in debate about what funding looks like, it can’t be a “them against us” discussion. Every child has a human right to a quality education. We must ensure the education of children with disability is above politics.

If you expect the new model to fix a broken disability education system, you will be let down. There is much to do to make our schools inclusive, to stop gatekeeping where schools can refuse enrolment, to ensure students with disability are not excluded from activities other children take for granted. There is more work to be done and I am committed to see the Government does the work to ensure long-term policy reform is delivered.

Yes, our new funding model is nation leading but it’s not the answer. More needs to be done and the Government needs to lead from the front.