‘Deeply concerned’: Special ed teacher slams federal school disability scheme handing out $5bn a year without safeguards
A special education teacher has hit out at the lack of regulation around a $5bn-a-year disability funding scheme for schools. Read this powerful letter to the education minister.
After reading our story about concerns surrounding a $5bn-a-year disability funding scheme for schools, and how its rapid growth was being fuelled by teachers diagnosing children with autism and ADHD, a special education teacher has spoken out.
Here is the anonymous teacher’s letter to federal Education Minister Jason Clare.
Dear Minister,
I am a special education teacher who has worked for several years in state as well as independent schools to support students with a range of disabilities including cognitive, physical and sensory, and I am deeply concerned that the federal disability loading is not always used by schools to support those students it is meant to support.
Although many schools use the loading ethically, unfortunately it is not uncommon practice for schools to pool the disability loading and then decide for themselves how the money will be used.
Until the federal disability loading becomes regulated, this will continue to occur.
On 23rd August education journalist Susie O’Brien wrote an article which discussed the federal funding of disability under Nationally Consistent Collection of Data (NCCD) to state and independent schools.
In particular, that in 2023 federal funding of $1.3bn went to government schools, and $2bn went to independent schools.
According to the NCCD, I have read the federal funding loading is meant to be used by schools to target those children diagnosed with disabilities. Furthermore, the amount per student is determined based on the level of adjustment the student requires from the school, supplementary, substantial or extensive.
I believe this federal disability loading is well-intentioned, with the aim of supporting students with diagnosed disabilities to meet their learning potential by removing obstacles, and assist schools to meet their legal obligations in Disability Standards for Education, 2005.
When the federal disability loading is directed towards payment of support staff or specific learning equipment, I have witnessed students thrive in their preschool and school settings.
Having a support staff member come into the classroom of the targeted child, work with the student one to one, or as part of a small group can be very effective.
When the federal loading is not directed towards the targeted students, it then falls upon the class teachers to implement adjustments.
This places an enormous amount of pressure on them, the adjustments are then considered unreasonable due to the hardship they cause, and the targeted students are at risk in not reaching their learning potential.
When the federal loading is not directed towards the targeted students, schools sometimes ask the parents to cover the cost themselves. I have witnessed parents being asked to apply for NDIS funding to cover the cost of educational equipment their child requires.
In addition, schools are recommending parents pay for private tutoring, which is extremely costly and something many parents are unable to afford.
The Disability Standards for Education, 2005, directly relate to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, that “governments should remove all obstacles for children with disabilities to become independent and to participate actively in the community”.
Minister, you mentioned that any school found to be misusing the disability loading will face consequences, but without any form of government regulation, some schools may continue to decide for themselves how the federal disability loading will be spent.
I have withheld my name to protect the privacy of the children and families I have worked with over the years.
Inside Australia’s secretive $5bn school disability funding scheme
Spiralling autism and ADHD diagnoses by teachers are fuelling growth in generous payments to schools under a $5bn-a-year scheme.
One million Australian schoolchildren are now viewed as disabled under the federal school disability payments scheme known as the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data (NCCD).
Funding for the scheme, which exists in addition to the NDIS, has almost tripled in the past decade, and is expected to soar past $5bn in 2025.
The growth has primarily been in the “social and emotional category” of impairment – defined as “disturbed behaviour”, which has almost doubled over the past decade.
Experts say some kids who were once considered “naughty” or “struggling” are now given a disability diagnosis by teachers, which can attract generous funding of up to $43,000 a child paid to schools.
However, parents say they have no input in how this money is spent, and often aren’t even told their child is considered by their school to have a disability.
Disability advocates are calling for more to be done to ensure funding goes to properly support those that need it.
A News Corp special investigation has revealed that in some states more than one in four children are now considered disabled by their schools – more than twice the rate of disability in children overall, which is around 12 per cent.
FULL STORY: Read more about the NCCD scheme and find out how much disability funding your child’s school is receiving
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Originally published as ‘Deeply concerned’: Special ed teacher slams federal school disability scheme handing out $5bn a year without safeguards
