http://thetyee.ca/News/2008/01/18/StudentAid/

Report slams chronic 'underfunding' in BC schools.
By Tom Sandborn
Published: January 18, 2008
  

TheTyee.ca
"I feel that these children are being punished, whether it is by ignoring,
dismissing, or isolating, or a lack of resources, for something that came with
birth. Why do we make the uphill battle even more difficult for them?" -- Parent
of a special needs student, quoted in Langley Special Education Inquiry Report.

Special needs students in B.C. are not getting the support they need, their
overburdened teachers are wracked with "disillusionment," and too little
government funding gets much of the blame, a new report suggests. 

Eleven months in the making, the extensively researched document says special
education services for some of the province's most vulnerable kids are
inadequate not only in School District #35 Langley, where the research was
focused, but across the province. 

The report says in some instances special needs students are left "wandering the
halls" because resource room teachers are unavailable and appropriate courses
are not open to them. At least one Langley district resource room teacher is
carrying a caseload of 70 students this year.

The report also criticizes "the lack of appropriate support for classroom
teachers who have students with special needs integrated into their classrooms."

'Low priority'

Special needs students make up about 10 per cent of all students in B.C., with
gifted children accounting for two to three per cent more. 

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But the special needs of many more may not be known to the educational system.
The panel of experts guiding the research expressed "concern" that under the
province's current funding formula, students identified to have learning
disabilities do not draw more funding for their schools, and so "the assessment
of their needs has become a low priority."

Many parents are taking on "considerable burdens" spending their own money to
have their children privately assessed for special learning needs because the
wait times in public schools for assessments is up to two years, said the
report.

A mental health worker told the panel that under-serving special needs students
causes a chain reaction that harms communities, as many of the students drop out
or are expelled, and then join gangs.

The report also says high school graduation levels for special needs students
have held consistent at about 69 per cent, 10 points lower than the average for
all students. 

'Historical underfunding'

The three-person panel that produced the inquiry report included Nadene
Guiltner, a recently retired public school teacher, Dr. Shirley McBride,
formerly with the education departments at the University of Saskatchewan, SFU
and UBC and the B.C. Ministry of Education, and Mike Suddaby, former
superintendent of schools in Maple Ridge. 

The panel blames "historical underfunding of special education in the province,
which was exacerbated historically by imposed settlements that were not funded
and from which the system has never recovered, despite some increases in
education funding since that time. 

"The primary victims of this shortfall have been non-enrolling personnel such as
special education teachers, counselors and librarians." 

Langley Teachers' Association second vice president Gail Chaddock-Costello told
The Tyee that Langley teachers have seen more special needs students dropping
out of school recently, and fewer graduating. 

She also said the increased workload and lack of support is leading to teacher
burnout and some experienced teachers leaving the system.

Burnout victim 

Katy Phillips is one of those burnout survivors who sees herself as forced out
of the classroom by inadequate funding and an "overwhelming" caseload. 

Formerly a special education teacher in Langley, Phillips left the district last
year and now teaches in Alberta. 

"I saw bad impacts on students," she told The Tyee. "I saw so many of them
frustrated, and I saw high school students starting to give up and fail because
they didn't get the help they needed. As a teacher I ended up spending far too
much time doing paper work and struggling with a caseload that swamped me. We
have got to put kids first again." 

Chaddock-Costello called the Langley report "an indictment of the provincial
government and its education policies."

"The government stripped teacher contracts in 2002, taking out provisions we had
bargained that gave up pay increases in trade for better conditions for our
students. Since then we have seen teacher caseloads go up dramatically, with
resource teachers now carrying caseloads of 30-45 special needs kids. 

"Before contract stripping, no resource teacher had a caseload of more than 15
kids," she added. "I was a resource teacher in Langley before contract
stripping, and with 15 kids on my caseload, I was a busy person."

"It's important for British Columbians to know that the percentage of our
provincial economy going into education has gone down in the past years," she
said. "Per-capita, B.C. is investing less in education than any other province."

Board of education opted out 

The inquiry leading to Thursday's report was a joint project of the Langley
Teachers' Association, the District Parent Advisory Council and CUPE Local 1260.


The Langley district board and administrators declined to participate formally
in the inquiry, although a few trustees attended public sessions. 

When asked why the district board and administrators didn't participate in the
inquiry, Craig Spence, the communications manager for Langley School District
replied by e-mail saying:

"The composition of classes with regard to Special Needs students is governed by
the School Act and Langley School District meets or exceeds the requirements of
the School Act. There are procedures in place for consulting with individual
teachers with regard to class composition. Langley School District also has
processes and procedures in place for working with education partners with
regard to matters like special services. The board of education did not feel it
would be appropriate to participate in an inquiry that was established outside
what is already in place for discussing such matters with its partners. The
Langley Teachers' Association is welcome at any time to bring questions or
comments forward to the board or senior staff at Langley School District."

'Shocked' at lack of resources

A mother of a Langley special needs student whose school was closed told the
panel she "checked out many Langley schools to see which could best help my
child and I was shocked to find they are all lacking in resources."

She wondered what administrators were doing with savings achieved by her child's
school closing. 

"Some of that money should go to providing services at the new school. Well,
that is not the case; they are overburdened. When you add special needs students
from both schools together you get many classes of 5 or more special needs
kids," she said.

She added: "My question is how can a teacher teach in a classroom where there
are six or seven [special needs] identified students -- on top of that, you add
children with behaviour issues and slow learners. Sure you give the teacher one
aid but she is told they won't start first thing in the morning and will not be
there all day, nor will it be every day. So what are they trying to say -- my
child is only disabled on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. On Tuesday and Thursday
you don't need help? They're cured?"

Members of Langley's board of education would not be attending the official
launch of the inquiry panel's report, Spence told The Tyee.

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