Flat rate funding for students with disability: Gonski

STUDENTS with a disability should receive a flat rate of funding regardless of the type of school they are enrolled in, a new report has recommended.

STUDENTS with a disability should receive a flat rate of funding regardless of the type of school they are enrolled in, a new report has recommended.

The review of school funding, headed by David Gonski, has criticised discrepancies in the level of government support provided to students with a disability.

While it says the federal government has budgeted $196 million between 2011-14 for programs to support students with disabilities, the report notes that students with a disability in non-government schools receive "substantially less public funding than their counterparts in government schools".

The report - which has warned the Gillard government that a dramatic overhaul of government funding is necessary to stop Australia falling behind its international competitors - calls for governments to fully publicly fund loadings for students with a disability as an entitlement irrespective of the school type or its socio-economic status.

"Providing the same publicly funded entitlement to a student for a certain level of educational adjustment regardless of the school they attend will mean that all schools are able to meet their legislative obligations in providing access and adequate education to students with a disability," the report says.

The report recommends that the additional costs of supporting students with a disability should be included as a loading to be paid above the basic school resource standard, calculated the same for every child.

It calls for urgent work to be undertaken to resolve significant data and definitional issues that are currently limiting the ability of the review panel to estimate the loadings that should be applied.

"Immediate collaborative action between the Australian Government and state and territory governments will be essential to make progress in this area," the report says.

The Gonski review says it will be expected that the Gillard governments National Disability Insurance Scheme could cover the costs of certain services and items used in supporting students with a severe disability.

It also proposes the National Schools Resourcing Body should undertake work to determine the needs of both government and non-government special schools catering for students with a disability.

State and federal education ministers will be discussing a progress report from the school disability and advisory panel at a forthcoming ministerial council meeting in April.