Review identifies cuts of $100m in special needs

Sydney Morning Herald

Monday March 21, 2011

Anna Patty EDUCATION EDITOR

COST savings of at least $100 million have been linked to the state government's program to integrate children with special needs into mainstream classes, a secret report has revealed.The NSW Department of Education has denied the integration program it is trialling in schools in the Illawarra and south-east region was linked to broader cost cuts. The trial began last Easter.A slide presentation it used for public consultation dismisses as a "myth" the idea the proposal has anything to do with cost saving. It says the proposal allocates $226 million to schools.However, an expenditure review involving the Education Department, Treasury and the Boston Consulting Group says the funding model for integrating special needs students can "promote sustainability by shifting [the] fastest-growing segment into [a] fixed-cost program [which] may avoid up to $100-120 million over five years".The report says the cost of special education, which accounts for a fifth of schools expenditure, has grown rapidly at 11 per cent a year over nine years to 2009-10.This had been driven by a rapid increase in the number of students with autism and mental health disorders, which the Boston Consulting report says is expected to continue.The report says Victoria introduced reforms in 2005 which "stemmed growth of special education and suggests a broad opportunity exists to streamline NSW special education/equity programs".To control the growth, children with lower need autism and mental health disorders are being integrated into mainstream classrooms as part of the trial in Illawarra schools.This strategy addresses growth in student numbers and "could avoid $20-$25 million in per annum cost increases".The report says there is a "risk" that students with a confirmed disability may choose high-cost support classes instead of integration into mainstream classes."This could increase [the] net cost of educating [a] child", the report says.The report compares the average cost of $27,500 a child in NSW special education to $21,000 a child in Victoria."Shifting cost per student half way to Victorian costs but assuming current NSW student numbers is worth $100 million," it says.The report also says the existing NSW funding model "does not take into account the lower proportion of high need students in non-government schools", suggesting that $60 million in savings could be made in this area.The Boston Consulting report warns "the challenge is to ensure federal anti-discrimination legislation is satisfied as is the sensitivity relating to perception that students with disabilities will be further disadvantaged by any government policy changes".The acting president of the NSW Teachers Federation, Gary Zadkovich, said the federation opposed the department's "hidden cost-cutting agenda".The opposition spokesman for education, Adrian Piccoli, said a new Liberal government would extend the trial until the end of this year. He said the Coalition was not yet in a position to endorse or reject the trial, which has received a mixed response from schools and parents of children with disabilities.The NSW Minister for Education, Verity Firth, said the Illawarra trial had operated with an increased budget for the support of students with a disability.She said the trial was developed in December 2009. The final draft of the Boston Consulting Report is dated January 29, 2010."This financial year alone, the government is investing a record $1.15 billion to support students with a disability," she said."Any of the report's recommendations that could have seen our students, teachers or schools worse off were rejected outright by government."

© 2011 Sydney Morning Herald

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