Local school board approves additional funding for students with special educational needs

Hastings and Prince Edward District School Board trustees. Photo by Mariia Khanenko, QNet News

By Mariia Khanenko

BELLEVILLE – Additional staff for kids with special educational needs won approval from Hastings-Prince Edward District School Board on Thursday night.

In a report to trustees, it said the funding will allow more funding to go towards students with special educational needs, which can be anything from troubles writing and reading or difficulties socializing with peers or adults.

The funding was to meet the needs of students who enrolled this past fall.

“What we saw tonight was a recommendation to support some additional staff to address some of the needs of students who came to us new in September,” said Mandy Savery-Whiteway, the director of education and secretary of the board.

In August, the Ministry of Education updated funding for the 2018-2019 school year, including an increase of $18.26 in the Special Education per Pupil Amount (SEPPA) allocation from junior kindergarten (JK) to Grade 3 students from $988.82 to $1,007.08.

There is almost 5,000 JK to Grade 3 students, which means the board got $90,533 of increased SEPPA funding for this group of students.

Additional funds will go towards six additional assistants to elementary schools that have high special educational needs. These education assistants will work with students at four primary schools and two at primary/intermediate schools.