September 18, 1998
(Education)

Student assistant allocations to be finalized today

The Minister of Education, Roger Grimes, announced today that school boards have now submitted all the required information on students with special needs to the Department of Education for processing. The profiling for all boards except District 10 has been completed and this district will be concluded by the end of the working day. Boards have been notified of their budgets for student assistants with funding already released to those boards.

"The funding released to the school boards, based on student profiles, has seen increases in all nine boards that have been completed," stated the minister. "In District 10, last year's level of funding has been released and the final profiling will determine whether any increase should occur."

"In addition to budgeting extra funds for student assistants, we have provided $3 million for special education teachers, $250,000 for educational materials for children with learning disabilities and $250,000 for early literacy programs, particularly in the area of remedial reading." The minister also said today that early next week department officials will communicate directly with representatives of parents of special needs children, the Newfoundland and Labrador Teachers Association, the Newfoundland and Labrador School Boards Association and the Newfoundland Association of Public Employees regarding the setting up of a special committee to find a new approach for the allocation of student assistant hours.

"No longer is it acceptable for special needs students to face this annual disruption at the opening of each school year," stated the minister. "Our goal is for this committee to make recommendations which hopefully will lead to a solution whereby special needs children will be fully aware of the level of services available for them before they leave school the previous year." The minister intends to meet with the group when it is established to begin dealing with the issue immediately and to set Christmas as the target date for firm recommendations.

"These students are the most vulnerable people in society and government remains committed to providing the maximum opportunities for them within our financial means," said Mr. Grimes.

Media contact: Carl Cooper, (709) 729-5040.

1998 09 18                  11:25 a.m.