F07(specedfunding)kf.3383 Increased Demands; Decreased Funding: Special Education Funding at the Toronto District School Board Staff Presentation to the Budget Committee February 17, 2010 Toronto District School Board 1

Increased Demands; Decreased Funding Content: Student Needs Profile of Grant & Expenditures Recommendations to the Ministry F07(specedfunding)kf

Pressures on Special Education Resources Increased Student Needs 2005/06 – 2009/10 Enrolment has decreased by 13,600 (5.4%) across the Board BUT weve seen a total increase in students with special needs by 5,200 (16%). Increase of 3,000 (25%) students with IEPs (Individual Education Plan) (students with needs, but not identified as exceptional by IPRC) Increase of 2,200 (11%) students with exceptionalities and identified by IPRC (Identification, Placement, and Review Committee) 3

F07(specedfunding)kf.3383 Pressures on Special Education Resources Increased Student Needs 2005/06 – 2009/10 Examples of increases by Exceptionality: Exceptionality Increase Autism7351, Learning Disabilities 8,1148,

F07(specedfunding)kf.3383 Pressures on Special Education Resources Illustration of Intensive Classroom Support incremental costs for a student with: Autism - $26,000 Developmental, Learning & Physical Disabilities - $9,000 Mild Intellectual Disabilities - $5,000 Behaviour – $13,500 ***Note: Funding is provided to support all Special Education costs – not on a per student basis*** 5

F07(specedfunding)kf.3383 Examples of Incremental Costs per Student that have Significant Resource Needs Student requires 1 to 1 teaching - $87,000 Student needs two CYWs (Child Youth Worker), two SNAs (Special Needs Assistant) & a teacher - $131,000 And there are many more examples of high needs cases 6

F07(specedfunding)kf.3383 Pressures on Special Education Resources Increased Number of Students with Complex Needs But Limited Funding Support 1 in 5 students have mental health needs (ADHD, Anxiety, Depression) 1 in students have diabetes –Type 1 10% of students with exceptionalities have more than one exceptionality 7

Professional Support Services (PSS) Total Referrals 2008/ ,853 referrals for all PSS Wait Lists (as of January 31, 2010) Psychological Services Speech/Language Pathology Services Social Work and Attendance Services, which represents a 130% increase from June 2006 F07(specedfunding)kf

Pressures on Professional Support Services (PSS) Enrolment Decrease of 13,600 (5.4%) across the Board BUT An increase of 3,679 referrals to PSS from June 06 to June 09, which represents a 15% increase Increase in number of referrals for students with complex needs, i.e., physical, cognitive, mental health, economic, etc… Increased demand for programs that have proven effectiveness and demonstrated value in the areas of prevention and early intervention Dramatic increase in the number of requests for in-services, workshops and other system involvements F07(specedfunding)kf

Waiting Lists Are Inequitable Waiting lists do not impact all students with exceptionalities in the same way. More affluent families can avoid waiting lists entirely by paying privately for professional support services. This is inequitable. No student should have to wait for the proper professional support services to help them succeed. F07(specedfunding)kf

Conclusion: Increasing Needs with Less Funding Funding issues with the Ministrys Funding Model impact how we currently serve our students with special needs. A key underlying factor of these issues is who the Ministry considers to be the students with special education needs and the associated costs. It is not black and white. The current funding formula for special education needs revision to address growing student demands. F07(specedfunding)kf

Profile of Grant and Expenditures F07(specedfunding)kf

F07(specedfunding)kf.3383 Funding & Expenditures for (Note: The net increase in Funding since of about $40M is primarily due to funding of salary increases net of impact of declining enrolment) 13 Funding: Estimates Special Education Per-Pupil (SEPPA)$131.3M High Needs Amount129.0M Special Equipment Amount (SEA)6.5M Special Incidence Portion (SIP)4.3M Section M Total Funding$284.3M Incremental Expenditures for Special Education$304.6M Spending in Excess of Grants Students Served ( ,619 for a 16.4% increase) Funding/Student ( $8,501 a decrease of 9.1%) Spending/Student ( $8,545 a decrease of 3.1%) Spending in excess of Funding/Special Ed. Student $20.3M 36,795 $7,727 $8,278 $551

Change in Funding & Expenditures (Excluding Inflation) Funding Decline in enrolment (15,546 FTE since )$7.4M Decline in High Needs Amount (High point in grant was $133.3M in It is now $129.0M) 4.3M Professional Development Reduction in M Total Funding Reduction$12.7M Expenditures Other impacts including impact in reduction of self contained students 3.6M Since , we have experienced a net increase in expenditures (excluding inflation of 13.7%) 4.0M Impact on Spending Envelope for Special Education (Spending in Excess of Grant) $20.3M F07(specedfunding)kf

F07(specedfunding)kf.3383 Profile of Grant Funding Changes Special Education Per Pupil Amount (SEPPA): This is the only component of the grant that decreases with enrolment: The Declining Enrolment Grant mitigates the impact of this in the first 2 years following the decline. It works as follows assuming a $2M grant reduction: 1 st year Boards decline is offset by declining enrolment grant – retain $2M; 2 nd year offset reduces to 50% - retain $1M; 3 rd year offset reduces to 5% - retain $0.1M. 15

F07(specedfunding)kf.3383 Profile of Grant Funding Changes contd High Needs: Grant reduced from to by $3M Reduced again for by $1M Reduction in resulted from Ministrys new funding approach for High Needs students that was partially implemented Impact for is not known at this time 16

Conclusion: Increasing Needs with Less Funding We have $20M less funding or a decline of 8% since While: We are serving 5,200 more special needs students, or a 16% increase. Therefore, we are not serving our high needs students at the same level as in The shortfall in funding is the equivalent of about $551 per student served. F07(specedfunding)kf

F07(specedfunding)kf.3383 Recommendations to the Ministry Amend funding model to fund increasing demands of high needs students. Ensure adequate funding for the Early Learning Programs Special Education Needs including the before and after school program. (It is too early to measure what impact ELP will have on Special Ed Services) Target PD money to build staff capacity to teach students with special needs – as opposed to making cuts in PD which was done in

F07(specedfunding)kf.3383 Recommendations to the Ministry Provide Boards with incentives for external partnerships to serve the needs of students. Ministries need to come together to provide and fund health, mental health, education and social services in a holistic, child centered way. Form an active Working Group of supervisory officers with special education & finance responsibilities to study the present funding model and to develop a realistic approach to funding High Needs students. 19