Principals and parents are reeling from a state government decision to cut $3400 a year in disability support per eligible student in mainstream schools.
In a letter to state school leaders late on Tuesday, just six weeks before the end of the school year, the state government announced plans for a major shake-up to taxpayer-funded disability support provided in classrooms.
The letter spells out changes to tighten criteria for disability support, a 2.5 per cent drop in “student-level funding rates”, and a reduction of $850 a term, per student “in mainstream schools only” from next year.
The cuts are designed to curtail the ballooning cost of providing disability support in the state’s schools, which has risen by 16 per cent a year since 2021.
“This is unsustainable, and it risks affecting support for children who need it most,” a government spokesperson said.
The changes will apply from term 1 next year.
The state government said the changes would mean more money for the students who needed it most.
A government spokesperson said there was no overall cut to school funding, which would be used for explicit teaching reforms, targeted literacy and numeracy interventions, tutoring and services to help students remain engaged in education.
The letter said overall funding for disability inclusion would grow to $2.2 billion in 2029.
The criteria for students receiving disability support will also change, with new definitions of academic performance and benchmarks for being able to do tasks independently.
The government has not clarified what criteria would be used to determine which students are eligible for taxpayer-funded supports.
The move shocked teachers and principals, who said they weren’t consulted, and has devastated families of students with disabilities.
Melbourne mother Christine, whose 16-year-old son has autism, a mild intellectual disability and ADHD, said the extra help her son received in school was vital.
“For families like mine, these cuts would be life-changing,” she said.
Her son is in a mainstream secondary school, where he has had the most success as a student.
“I genuinely believe that without disability inclusion support from the beginning, my son may have fallen out of the school system altogether,” she said.
“We tried a specialist school environment, which worked for a while, but his biggest successes came through mainstream schooling, where he had the opportunity to experience and participate in the wider world.”
The support from his aides was critical in helping him to navigate school, and stay connected to learning, she said.
“With teachers already stretched managing diverse needs in large classrooms, this support is not a luxury – it is essential,” she said.
Association for Children with a Disability chief executive Karen Dimmock said families were devastated by the new criteria, which she said would mean less money for schools to spend supporting students with disabilities.
“The majority of this funding is spent on individual education support staff,” she said. “This is an incredible workforce that does everything from help children with physical access to those with low vision or are hard of hearing, or helping students to maintain focus.”
The disability advocate said it was a lot of money for schools to lose.
“This is just devastating,” Dimmock said.
“The difference this funding makes to a child every day in the classroom is invaluable.”
Australian Principals Federation president Andrew Cock said a student’s disability didn’t become less complex because the department changed its funding formula.
“The support they need remains, regardless of what the budget says,” he said.
He said schools couldn’t deliver more inclusive education with less funding.
“The expectations on principals haven’t changed, the needs of students haven’t changed, but the funding available to support them is being reduced,” he said.
Principals were left to manage the consequences of these decisions, without meaningful consultation from the government, he said.
“Funding decisions must be driven by student need, not simply financial targets.”
The Australian Education Union said the decision should be reversed.
“The … decision to cut funding for children with disability attending public schools is a disgrace and must be reversed immediately,” Victorian branch president Justin Mullaly said.
He said it would pull support from one in every six students who were receiving disability inclusion support at a public school.
“I would like to know how the government proposes that the affected students are going to get the support they need to learn with this support pulled out from under them.”
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