Disability funding cut sparks uproar

Over 100 people attended a rally organised by the Public Services
Assocaition (PSA) and Families Against Disability Discrimination on July 15 demanding the State Government restores funding for students with low level disabilities.

Funding cuts from the Every Student Every School Initiative (ESES) will
commence from term three.

General Secretary of PSA, John Cahill urged the State Government to
reconsider their measures. Mr Cahill said: “We want the government to
guarantee that no school or student will suffer as a result.”

The initiative aims to provide assisstance and support for over 90,000 students who suffer from a disability or have learning difficulties.

Emma Husar spoke about the impact the ESES funding cuts have on her son. Ms Husar said: “Currently as it stands, my son will be affected
by the new ESES ‘funding model’. His hours of aide time will be reduced … There is so much uncertainty about future years that it places a lot of stress on the parents trying to figure out what schooling options will be available to them.

“I know of families who are being turned away from public schools
because the funding model does not allow for out-of-area enrolment’s.

“I fail to see how this cut will help any of our students. It is in no way linked to the legislation of 2005, which states that all children of any ability should be catered for in NSW schools. I feel it is discrimination to all the children,” Ms Husar said.

Children with Disability Australia (CDA) are concerned about support in
education. Executive Officer of CDA, Stephanie Gotlib said: “CDA…is simply inundated with families from around Australia who experience major challenges accessing a quality education for their children.

“Given that the program is titled ESES, we would expect that the NSW
government address some of the individual shortfalls to ensure, in fact
every student with a disability has their learning opportunities improved and that no student is disadvantaged.

“My understanding of the ESES in its purest form is that it is based on
increasing the capacity of schools to more adequately meet the needs of
students with disability. As such it includes a number of initiatives.”

The initiatives include a specialist teacher present in every mainstream school and the development of a functional assessment tool, allowing teachers to profile the learning and support needs of individual students in collaboration with students and parents.

It is estimated funding cuts will affect the day-to-day learning support thousands of students recieve across 272 schools. Schools with large numbers of students with “low-level disabilities”are poised to be
disadvantaged.