March 6, 2014

At their regular meeting on February 24, 2014, trustees of the Superior-Greenstone District School Board (SGDSB) voted in favour of supporting a campaign to “fix the formula”.  Originally launched by the Peel District School Board, but increasingly gaining the support of school boards across the province the campaign seeks to address the inequity in the Ministry of Education’s Special Education High Needs Amount (HNA) per pupil funding formula. To fund special education, the Superior-Greenstone Board relies on several types of grants from the provincial government including the HNA, which represents 30.6% of the total grants or $1,293,589.   

Pinky McRae, Chair of SGDSB has spearheaded the campaign on behalf of the board by drawing attention to the unique challenges faced by rural boards in the north.  “Although we support a fair and equitable funding formula we want to draw attention to the unique challenges that we are faced with in the north which warrant a differentiated funding formula”.     McRae goes on to explain that “unlike an urban board our small remote communities do not have the same range of services available as their southern neighbours”.  “If indeed we are able to access these services at all, there are significant travel costs associated with bringing in psychologists, teacher diagnosticians and occupational therapists”.

However as it exists now Superior-Greenstone District School Board believes Ontario’s funding formula is broken, and that the government must fix it now.  “Every parent and child has a stake, as the funding model has a direct or indirect impact on each student the board serves.  Getting the special education funding the board deserves is a matter of fairness and equity, and will benefit all students” says McRae.

Today, the HNA grants range from $339 per student to a high of $1,700.  Superior-Greenstone receives $766.72 per student which is above the provincial average of $534 but half the amount Superior North Catholic District School Board receives at $1541.37 per student.  “It simply does not make sense that two neighbouring school boards serving the same communities would have such a dramatic difference in funding” says McRae.  Yet this is how the funding formula has worked for the last ten years. “Furthermore”, states McRae, “special needs students from Superior North Catholic go on to attend our secondary schools but when they enter our system the funding to support their needs is cut in half!

Director of Education, David Tamblyn, reports that the deficit in special education spending for the current year is $1,937,829.  “To cover this deficit we have taken funding away from other programs and services we offer to our students.  If we were funded at the same rate as our coterminous board we could reduce this deficit by $529,574”.  “Half a million dollars can have a real impact on the classroom” says Tamblyn.  “Our students should have access to the same level of programming and services as the students attending the coterminous school in their community”.

McRae noted, “I’m pleased to join my trustee colleagues in communicating the urgent priority to fix the special education formula and fund Superior-Greenstone students fairly and equitably. We talk a lot about these ideas in terms of inclusion, access and opportunities. We understand the Special Education Policy and Programs Branch is currently considering various options as put forward by Ministry officials working with a Committee studying the high needs amount.  We ask when considering what option best suits the needs of students in all regions of Ontario they factor in the unique challenges faced in rural northern boards in finding a formula that is fair and equitable for all students.