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Severely disabled kids who attend a summer school run by Ottawa’s public school board shouldn’t have their program cut, trustees were told Tuesday by parents whose children benefit from it.
The 17-day summer schools run at Clifford Bowey and Crystal Bay schools are for children and teens with a mental age of about 18 to 24 months. Parents say the children need the routine of summer school so they don’t regress, and their severe disabilities make it hard to place them in summer camps.
The debate is a good illustration of just how hard it will be for the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board to make up an estimated $10 million budget shortfall. There isn’t much leeway in where cuts can be made because about 60 per cent of the board’s budget is academic salaries. Most of the teaching positions are not discretionary because of provincial limits on class sizes and teacher contracts.
Teaching positions will have to be cut, staff warn, although the exact number is still under debate. Staff have also suggested reducing programs that are not required by the province, such as the summer program for disabled children, which costs the board about $342,000 a year.
Parent Michel Barbeau said his 14-year-old daughter Marie-Hélène has benefitted tremendously from the summer school at Clifford Bowey. Why is the board considering cuts to the most vulnerable students? he asked trustees.
The board provides extra funding for top academic students in the International Baccalaureate program, for arts students at Canterbury High School, for students in high performance athletics and for high school students to pick up credits during the summer, he said. Is the learning potential of developmentally delayed students any less valuable? he wondered.
Staff said they were trying to spread the cuts as fairly as possible. One area that seems destined for cuts is special education, since the board now spends more in that area than what the province provides funding for. In the past, the board has relied on surpluses to make up the difference, but the province has warned the board that it must balance the budget.
Staff have proposed cuts to the learning resource teachers who help children with learning disabilities and other special needs. They have also suggested cutting four English-as-a-second language teachers.
Even with the influx of an estimated 500 Syrian refugee children to the board this year, teachers should be able to handle it, said staff.
At Tuesday’s committee meeting, trustees debated the options, but no recommendations were made by deadline.
查看原文...
The 17-day summer schools run at Clifford Bowey and Crystal Bay schools are for children and teens with a mental age of about 18 to 24 months. Parents say the children need the routine of summer school so they don’t regress, and their severe disabilities make it hard to place them in summer camps.
The debate is a good illustration of just how hard it will be for the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board to make up an estimated $10 million budget shortfall. There isn’t much leeway in where cuts can be made because about 60 per cent of the board’s budget is academic salaries. Most of the teaching positions are not discretionary because of provincial limits on class sizes and teacher contracts.
Teaching positions will have to be cut, staff warn, although the exact number is still under debate. Staff have also suggested reducing programs that are not required by the province, such as the summer program for disabled children, which costs the board about $342,000 a year.
Parent Michel Barbeau said his 14-year-old daughter Marie-Hélène has benefitted tremendously from the summer school at Clifford Bowey. Why is the board considering cuts to the most vulnerable students? he asked trustees.
The board provides extra funding for top academic students in the International Baccalaureate program, for arts students at Canterbury High School, for students in high performance athletics and for high school students to pick up credits during the summer, he said. Is the learning potential of developmentally delayed students any less valuable? he wondered.
Staff said they were trying to spread the cuts as fairly as possible. One area that seems destined for cuts is special education, since the board now spends more in that area than what the province provides funding for. In the past, the board has relied on surpluses to make up the difference, but the province has warned the board that it must balance the budget.
Staff have proposed cuts to the learning resource teachers who help children with learning disabilities and other special needs. They have also suggested cutting four English-as-a-second language teachers.
Even with the influx of an estimated 500 Syrian refugee children to the board this year, teachers should be able to handle it, said staff.
At Tuesday’s committee meeting, trustees debated the options, but no recommendations were made by deadline.
查看原文...
