The Ford government is boosting funding for supports for students with autism by an average of $12,300 for each new child entering the school system when changes to the system come into effect April 1, Education Minister Lisa Thompson announced Monday morning.“These supports will start, absolutely, immediately,” she said. “We are making changes to school board funding so supports will be in place for this school year.”Before speaking to a meeting of the Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association in Ottawa, Thompson announced that the province will also boost training for teachers — both online and as “additional qualification” courses — and also give boards money to expand after-school programs for students with autism.In total, it has pledged $6.1 million for after-school activities, $1 million a year for three years to pay for the “additional qualification” for teachers, and $2 million to the Geneva Centre for Autism to run online training for school staff. The $12,300 is an average — and equal to the per-pupil amount alloted to each Ontario student for an entire school year — but in this case will be spent over three months, between this April and June. The government has come under considerable criticism from parents and school boards for the changes, which will see limited lifetime budgets for children with autism, which has led boards to anticipate an influx of students when they lose their current level of therapy.The government’s focus has been to clear a 23,000-child wait list, and more evenly spread the $321 million in autism funding among more families. Thompson said by 2021 all teachers in the public system will have training in autism spectrum disorder.Read more:Toronto school boards urge province for ‘additional and urgent’ autism fundingOntario autism program changes ‘best for all children,’ says social services ministerParents rally against Fo ...
|
