A St. Albert student with Asperger's will get to go to the school of his choice after all next week, thanks to the intervention of the province's education minister.
Caitlin Wray's son, Simon, had his enrolment at Edmonton's Victoria School of the Arts revoked late last month due to a funding dispute between the St. Albert and Edmonton public school boards.
Edmonton Public had asked St. Albert Public to "sponsor" Simon by paying them to cover the cost of supports for his special needs – he has Asperger's syndrome, a form of autism.
St. Albert Public declined, as it only pays such sponsorship if a student is attending a special-needs program outside the city that it can't provide – it doesn't do so for programs of interest such as the Victoria school's arts-based curriculum.
This was not a case of St. Albert Public holding back dollars it would have received for this student because he had special needs, superintendant Barry Wowk said.
"St. Albert Public Schools would not have received any funds from the government for this child if he chose to register at and attend an out-of-district school. However, we were still asked to pay an additional and significant fee to the district who accepted him."
The student would also have had to register with St. Albert Public for sponsorship to happen, he continued, and he hadn't.
On Friday, the Wray family received news from Edmonton Public and Alberta Education Minister David Eggen's office that a solution had been found.
The province has agreed to provide the cash needed to support Simon's special needs, and Edmonton Public has agreed to let him attend the Victoria school, said Edmonton Public spokesperson Brad Stromberg.
"The student will be attending the Victoria composite school beginning Tuesday, Sept. 8," he said.
Wray said she was very excited and relieved to get this news.
"We trusted all along that the boards and the government would work together to do what was right, and we are incredibly heartened to see that our faith was not misplaced."
Simon said he ran around the house with excitement when he learned he'd be going to school next week.
"I was really happy, and also at the same time I was half asleep," he said. The call came through Friday morning.
Wray and Simon both thanked all the people who had supported them over the last few weeks.
"This was a hard-earned victory for special needs students across the province," Wray said.
Policy dispute
Edmonton Public is one of a number of Alberta boards that requires out-of-district special needs students to be sponsored before it will accept them, said Bruce Uditsky, CEO of Inclusion Alberta.
Edmonton Public's policy on non-resident students states that the district enters sponsorship agreements with other boards to provide instruction for non-resident special needs students. Those agreements involve fees of $13,000 to $36,000, suggested a June 2015 report to the Edmonton Public board.
These fees do not apply to students without disabilities, Uditsky said.
"Students with disabilities are discriminated against. They don't have the same choices students without disabilities have."
He added that it was Edmonton Public's policy creating the discrimination here, not St. Albert's.
Eggen said this was less a case of discrimination and more one of timely execution of policy.
"This circumstance has brought to light procedural gaps I am looking into further, especially around inclusion of students with supports in education right across the province," he said.
Eggen committed to an overall review of the province's school funding formula.
"We have to make sure that students are getting the education they need in the most stable and secure environment possible."
The province needs to level the playing field so that students with disabilities can get the same kinds of education as any other student, Uditsky said.
"Kids with disabilities, they're no different from any other kid. They have different talents, different interests, different passions, and they should be able to pursue their dreams and interests as much as any other child."
Wray said she's glad to hear that Eggen planned to review the policies that caused her son's situation.
"My son was not the first, and he won't be the last if they don't make the change," she said.
