Gonski Report: SA students with disabilities left behind
20/02/2012
Dignity for Disability MLC Kelly Vincent says today’s release of the Gonski Report confirms that the needs of South Australians with disabilities are being ignored by our school system.
In his far-reaching analysis of national education funding, businessman David Gonski has highlighted spending on students with disabilities as an area of complete confusion.
The report lists South Australia as by far the least generous funder of education for people with disabilities, with the state spending an average of $4808 per student with disabilities per year while the Tasmanian education system allocates $41,817 per student with disabilities each year.
“These numbers tell the story of a state which has put students with disabilities in the too hard basket,” said Ms Vincent. “I am asking the Education Minister Grace Portolesi to explain these numbers and tell us what she is going to do to improve them.”
“In terms of educating people with disabilities, South Australia is like a developing-nation when compared with regions like Tasmania and the ACT.”
In his analysis of data around disability funding, Mr Gonski reported there is almost no structured system at all, with the amount of money allocated to a student changing wildly depending on where they lived and whether they attended a public, independent or Catholic school.
Each state and territory also has different definitions of what constitutes a disability.
“The result of this piecemeal and fragmented approach to funding is education of students with disabilities is a lucky dip, with the quality of education varying from place to place, school to school and even year to year,” said Ms Vincent.
“I am pleased to see that the number of students South Australia recognises as having a disability is close to the actual estimates of disability populace in Australia, but this does not excuse the per-student funding shortfall reported today.”
Mr Gonski has made several recommendations relating to disability funding, including suggesting governments should “as a matter of priority” create nationally consistent definitions and standards in the area. Ms Vincent believes take-up of this recommendation would result in more consistent and fair education of children with disabilities.
He has also recommended an overall injection of more than $5 billion per year into the education system.
