From the Office of Welland, Ontario Riding MPP Cindy Forster
Today in Question Period, NDP MPP Cindy Forster asked the provincial government why they have yet to address funding shortfalls for Special Education in Niagara, or yet agreed to meet with the District School Board of Niagara on the issue.
Cindy Forster, representing the Niagara, Ontario riding of Welland.
“The District School Board of Niagara has called on the Education Minister and the Premier to visit the School Board in hopes for action on a decade long chronic underfunding of Special Education funding from the province. The School Board estimates that they are being underfunded to the tune of Nine-Million-Dollars per year”.
Trustees from DSBN have charged that the province has ignored repeated calls to address the issue and that inequitable distribution of funding has left DSBN with the second lowest amount among school boards across Ontario.
The District School Board of Niagara receives 355 dollars-per-student in high needs funding. The average provincial school board funding for high needs is 636-dollars-per-student.
“Why do Special Education Students in the Niagara School Board receive just over half of the funding that special education students receive in other regions of this province? And when will this be fixed?” asked MPP Forster.
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Niagara At Large 
Having worked under the special ed. umbrella, I do recall such a situation being the case for the past 10 years. Often wondered why we in Niagara always seemed to get the end of the short stick. I believe a similar situation is occurring under mental health. It always seemed to me that Niagara was always left out whether it was mental health or education funding. Funding always seemed to end at Hamilton.
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