The Rainy River District School Board will be developing new standards for its special education program–and perhaps see more funding–after an announcement from Education minister Janet Ecker last month.
Changes on how special education programming will be organized are planned, Ecker said, as well as how $40 million more shifted towards special education funding will be divvied up.
“It’s a real change in identifying special education funding in that it reflects programming as opposed to number of students enrolled,” said local Education Director Warren Hoshizaki.
“It’s a good change, though, in that it provides flexibility,” he noted. “We’ll look at the different models and see which ones work best for our special education students.”
While it’s certain the board will make changes to its programming, it isn’t yet known if the board will receive any more of that $40 million.
“We’ll have our financial officer look at how this will affect us. But we have been assured the funding will not be less than what we received this year,” Hoshizaki said.
The timeline in which the board will get ready for next year is as follows:
•Winter/Spring 2000–develop new standards;
•May, 2000–boards submit amendments to 1999 Special Education Plans, incorporating feedback from ministry;
•Summer/Fall 2000–in-service for school board personnel;
•Winter/Spring 2001–boards review plans and make amendments based on a standards consultation;
•May 15, 2001–boards submit revised Special Education Plans to ministry; and
•2001 and beyond–continuous cycle of ministry feedback and board amendments.
Ecker’s suggestions to introduce quality and accountability improvements in special education include:
•developing standards for Individual Education Plans (IEPs) to improve consistency in the quality of special education programs across the province;
•developing standards for boards’ Special Education Plans (SEPs) to ensure boards are accountable for delivering high-quality programs and services system-wide;
•initiating an audit of IEPs at the school board level to ensure they are in compliance with standards, and that they consistently and accurately describe the programs and services students receive;
•developing program standards for each exceptionality in order to improve understanding about what is the most effective way to provide quality special education programs province-wide; and
•developing better co-ordination of services for students with special needs in order to improve access to services for children with special needs (whether offered at home, school, or a medical setting), and respects parents’ wishes for consistency and continuity of care.
Ecker also announced the ministry will refine the funding formula to:
•continue to protect special education funding;
•to provide a portion of special education funding on the basis of enrolment;
•confirm ISA funding as a process to recognize that students with high needs are unevenly distributed across the province; and
•enable boards to use their ISA funding in ways which let them meet the wide range of special needs of students within their board.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
