Special ed. draws shortest straw in NS budget - again

Students with special needs will bear the brunt of education budget cuts

By: Linda Pannozzo

"Public Education: The single most important element in the maintenance of a democratic system." - John Ralston Saul, The Doubter's Companion

  June 5/00 - Richard Starr pauses after I ask him about his son. A couple of moments pass and he begins to do what he's done for eight years running - advocate on Sam's behalf. Sam has Down's syndrome and Starr knows the special education policy in Nova Scotia as well as anyone. His son is in grade 8 at a Dartmouth junior high school, and every year since kindergarten Starr has had to argue for a program assistant for Sam - someone to shadow him during his classes. So far he's had this support and "loves school." He's been lucky, Starr says, but he knows of parents and children who aren't. "I know other parents who've kept their kids out of school because the services were not there - some for a week, others for a month at a time."
 

Last month, Nova Scotia announced nearly $27 million would be cut from its education system. School boards say the magnitude of the cuts will force them to lay-off roughly 800 teachers (eight per cent of the total) and 1,000 support staff, including those who work directly with children with special needs.

  The latest Tory education budget will mean those students who need help the most in Nova Scotia may not be able to get it. Special education wasn't spared last month when Education Minister Jane Purves announced nearly $27 million would be cut from the system. School boards say the magnitude of the cuts will force them to lay-off roughly 800 teachers (eight per cent of the total) and 1,000 support staff, including those who work directly with children with special needs.
  The announcements were met with student walk-outs and thousands of protestors in the streets for days on end. The government responded by promising to put some money back into education, but the cuts remain severe.
  Larry Power works with the Canadian Union of Public Employees, which represents support workers. He says even with the money the government promised to put back, close to 80 program assistants may be cut from the Halifax Regional School Board alone. The cuts are being made to those with "direct hands-on care to children in the classrooms," Power says. The cuts are especially problematic since the school board already has too few program assistants to meet its needs. There should be at least 532 program assistants, says School Board Superintendent David Reid. Right now there are only 488.
 

Nova Scotia spends less on its students than any other province in Canada. In Ontario, for instance, even after the Harris cuts, $6,300 is spent per student. Nova Scotia shells out about $3,800 per student. This chronic under-funding has been particularly disastrous for special education programs.

  By all accounts, the education system in Nova Scotia has been in trouble for years. The province spends less on its students than any other in Canada. Some contend it ranks lowest in all of North America, just higher than Mexico. In Ontario, even after the Harris cuts, the government spends$6,300 per student. Nova Scotia shells out about $3,800 per student. This chronic under-funding has been particularly disastrous for special education programs.
  It used to be that children with special needs were either kept at home, says Starr, or, if they were sent to school, they "were lumped together and put in a basement somewhere." Nova Scotia only changed its special education policy four years ago. Now the province educates special needs children with other students in a regular classroom. The new policy requires an "inclusive approach," featuring individual programming, planning teams at the school level and parental involvement. All this costs money, but Starr says there has never been enough money budgeted for the program.
  In the early 1990s, the province struck a special education funding review committee to look into funding formulas for district school boards. The committee's 1997 report estimated a $33 million shortfall in funding for special needs. It also recognized shortfalls in many other areas of education. Schools need access to teacher assistants, speech and psychological services and learning resources, said committee member Lloyd Gillis at the time, but "school boards are simply unable to respond to all of the demands." According to Gillis, between l997 and l998, the provincial government increased funding for special needs children by a paltry $20 per student.
 

"It's time someone slows down the bus and really takes a look at the education system in this province. Right now we've got the government blaming the school boards and the school boards blaming the province. It's totally out of control." - Larry Power, Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE)

  Little has changed since 1997. In fact, the Tories didn't even do their homework before announcing this year's budget, Starr says. "They didn't consult with [the special funding review group] who have been involved - instead they relied on some notes they took on a piece of Kleenex."
  Cathy Shaw is a spokesperson for the Department of Education. She says the government did consult the funding review group last December, but "because some of the budget scenarios were quite radical, it was agreed that the funding review group wouldn't want to be engaged in the process."
  Shaw says the government had to make the budget cuts in order to finance its debt. Many schools across Canada have suffered similar education cuts in the last few years. In l997, Ontario Premier Mike Harris introduced Bill 160 - an attempt to cut education funds by reducing the number of teachers in the province. When it comes to special education, Starr says even if the system were funded properly, there would still be the additional challenge of changing attitudes towards children with special needs. Many teachers graduate from teacher's colleges with very little training on how to deal with these students. In the classroom, assistants are there to help, but the direction is still taken from the teacher. "If the system was funded properly and if everyone could finally stop whining about not having the resources, then you could start working on the attitude. But you have to do both," Starr says.

Get More/Do More
Find out more about Nova Scotia's latest education budget cuts at www.hrsb.ns.ca. Get the government's side at budget2000.ednet.ns.ca.

Check out the Down Syndrome Research Foundation's suggestions on special education at www.bced.gov.bc.ca/specialed/review/319down.htm.

Find all kinds of special education resources on the Internet at www.hood.edu/seri/serihome.htm and www.iser.com.

Check out Jerome and Deborah's Big Page of Special Education links for visual impairment information at www.mts.net/~jgreenco/special.html.

Visit Wrightslaw's site for information on effective advocacy for children with disabilities in the US at www.wrightslaw.com. Also offers a free online newsletter, called The Special Ed Advocate, on special ed. law, advocacy, research, and other topics.

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