Disability Funding not Fair

The Age, Farrah Tomazin, 16 July 2007; Sydney Morning Herald, Farrah Tomazin, 16 July 2007

 

In a recent appeal, the Independent Schools Council of Australia (ISCA) requested that the Australian Government address ‘funding discrimination’ against disabled students attending non-government schools.

ISCA told the Federal Minister for Education, Science and Training, the Honourable Julie Bishop, that they would like
to see funding and resources ‘follow’ students with disabilities when they move between government and non-
government schools.

9310 students with disabilities were enrolled by the non-government sector in 2006. According to figures provided
to The Age, the maximum amount of funding available to a profoundly disabled student in a Victorian independent
school in 2006 was approximately $5,000. By contrast, the same student would have received $38,295 in a
government school

Differences in the definition of disabilities and the inconsistencies in funding procedures between states have made
it difficult to find a solution to funding students with disabilities.

The Chief Executive of the Association of Independent Schools of Victoria, Michelle Green, indicated that funding
for students with a disability should be based solely on the child’s level of need, rather than on the school they
attend.

Ian Dalton, Executive Director of the Australian Parents Council has similar thoughts. ‘For some students with high-
level disabilities, it would be ridiculous for them to choose [independent] schools because there isn't the sort of
resources to support them,’ he said.

Minister Bishop has stated that the Australian Government has allocated $5.8 million to a study that will look into
the transferability of funding for students with disabilities who move between the school sectors.

 

 

 

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