In Australia, schools receive inadequate funding and resources to meet the needs of students with disability. This undermines the ability of schools to implement measures that would underpin inclusion, including modifying curricula to meet the particular needs of different students; increasing the staff to student ratio; and providing adaptive equipment and technology, accessible transport, universally designed environments and accessible social and extra-curricular activities.486
There are barriers and inequity in the way funding is allocated to students with disability, including:
funding for each student with disability is based on the primary disability that most affects the student’s quality of life and learning. No additional funding is given to students with multiple support needs, which results in inadequate funding to support the needs of students;487
a significant number of students with disability miss out on funding and support because they don’t meet existing eligibility criteria, and because there is a lack of emphasis on the individual support needs of students as opposed to a specific diagnosis or ‘label’;488
levels of funding and support are insufficient and vary across States and Territories for particular students with disability, such as students with Aspergers Syndrome;489 and
a new application for funding must be lodged each time a student with disability moves school. This results in the student having to wait for funding without any support, assistance or access to the curriculum for that period of time.490
