Tell the Ministry of Education that we need more support for children with special needs.

When students with special needs go to school, we want to ensure they have the support they need. The Ministry provides special education grants that are a good first step, but they aren’t enough. These grants are based on a statistical model tied to outdated demographic and enrolment data, which means that while the number of students identified with special needs is increasing every day, there are fewer funds to support them.

Kids need access to educational assistants, behavioural counsellors, child and youth workers, psychologists, and speech and language pathologists to help them learn and thrive.

Almost two decades ago, the government committed to conducting a review of the education funding formula every five years, but there has been nothing since 2002. 16 years without a review. It’s time for the funding formula to address actual student needs.