The new ‘mixed model’ for education promised to parents of disabled students has proved empty, based on figures released in today’s budget.

The ‘Vote Education’ spend has increased by $12.1m. This follows a $2.7m drop in Special Education funding in 2022/23 – despite considerable and longstanding pressures on the system.

“This increase will in no way meet existing demand, let alone deliver the transformational change disabled children have been promised. Children with additional support needs have been consistently failed by New Zealand’s learning support system, with provisions such as the Ministry of Education’s Ongoing Resourcing Scheme (ORS) only reaching those deemed to have the highest needs in the country. Parents were rightly excited about the chance for their children to be included at school, so it’s incredibly disappointing not to see any meaningful investment in this area,” explains CCS Disability Action Chief Executive Mel Smith.

Following the completion of the review, Associate Minister of Education Jan Tinetti (now Minister) announced that the Government will develop a new mixed model approach to ensure the support system is better fit for purpose.

Minister Tinetti signaled the building blocks for change would require time to develop and implement effectively, as well as significant and ongoing new investment.

Ms Smith is concerned that the Government will now simply be forced to patch up a system that’s already broken, rather than delivering meaningful changes that parents called for.

“For the model to work, we're going to have to resource to a much higher level, particularly as we know demand for support continues to increase. We also need to see a real commitment to, and focus on, disabled learners’ human rights.”

She would also like to see a greater focus on the human rights model of disability, which recognises that disabled people have the same rights as everyone else in society. “Currently, we know that disabled children are regularly being excluded from education. Parents are regularly deterred from enrolling their disabled child at a local school. Almost a third of disabled students reported feeling they did not belong at school. Disabled kids deserve to feel welcomed, included by their peers and have a fair shot at success,” she says.

© Scoop Media