PSSP Bargaining Unit Newsletter:

Volume 4, Issue 2: November 22, 2005

President’s Message

It is hard to believe that mid-term is already here and Christmas is just around the corner. I hope everyone is well and enjoying their school year.

Again, I would like to welcome any new members to OSSTF. If you are a new employee in one of our job classes, whether temporary or permanent, please approach your job class representative and introduce yourself. You will be receiving new member kits in the near future and will be asked to fill out a “green card” (application for membership in OSSTF). Please do not hesitate to contact myself or Nancy McDougall at District Office if you have any questions.

At this time, we have been given five negotiating dates starting in early December. Please support your Bargaining team, headed by Craig Read, Chief Negotiator. The PSSP table team will work hard to improve our current collective agreement. Table Team members include Nancianne Speare, Provincial Negotiator, Craig Read, PSSP Chief Negotiator, Rob Guthrie, Research and Assessment Associate, Audrey Cooley, Psychological Associate, Cindy Woo, Speech-Language Pathologist, Nancy McDougall, Federation Services Officer and myself as PSSP President.

Pay Equity issues remain before the Pay Equity Commission but we are hopeful to hear something within the next few months.

Nominations for the Bishop Townshend Awards are now being accepted. Click here for more information about this distinguished award and the criteria for candidacy. If you know someone who would be the ideal nominee, please contact your job class representative or myself and we will support you in making the nomination.

Our congratulations go out to Janet Donkervoort, speech-language pathologist and PSSP Grievance Officer. Janet has had an article published in the October 5, 2005 OSSTF provincial publication of Update. Her article titled "So What Does a Speech-Language Pathologist Do?" talks about her role as a speech-language pathologist here in Thames Valley.

Special Education Funding

(from OSSTF Education Watch: September 2005)

Background

On July 28, 2004 the Minister of Education indicated that the government is looking for “a new approach to special education.” Later the Ministry released Review of Growth in Claims for Students with Severe Needs. The review noted that the Intensive Support Amount (ISA) will be discontinued. The overall tone of the Review seemed to suggest that the amount of funding requested by school boards is unreasonably high.

Special Education Staffing:

OSSTF continues to advocate for the full service school, in which all programs, services and support are offered by fully integrated school board-based special education personnel.

More special education teachers are needed to replace those who are retiring or burning out. Professional support staff personnel are also in short supply in school boards. Some school boards cannot recruit psychologists, psychological associates or speech-language pathologists since boards cannot seem to offer competitive salaries.

These services need to be ear-marked and protected in the educational funding model and services need to be delivered by qualified school board employees.

OSSTF urges the government to require school boards to directly employ the special education personnel needed to provide the programs, services and support so essential to exceptional students. Funding implications for other Ministries must be subordinated to the needs of the Ministry of Education to provide the proper programs and services to educate special education/special needs students.

OSSTF Special Education Funding Principles

1. Complete funding of special education must form an integral and significant part of the overall financing of publicly funded education in Ontario.

2. Complete funding for special education must        ensure that every student with special needs can receive the necessary instruction, programs, resource materials, equipment, services, care and support from professional board employees to enable the student to learn and develop successfully to the greatest personal extent possible.

3. More special education personnel must be added to the current complement of staff in order to address the departure of existing staff.  Compensation rates must be competitive with the marketplace.  Special education personnel working in school boards should be employees of school boards.

4. The current SEPPA portion of special education funding should be maintained and increased to $25 million.

5. The funding currently allocated by the Ministry for 2004-2005 for ISA funding should be an absolute minimum inclusive of required inflationary supplements and be supplemented based on newly identified students.

6. Complete funding for students with exceptional needs should be based on the Incidence Rate (IR) of such students in a school board coupled with a standard allocation per student, with access to a flexible contingent reserve.  This principle is consistent with that suggested by other stakeholders.

7. Complete funding for special needs students must be guaranteed until students reach age 21.

8. Complete funding must include provisions for the expertise of a multi-discipline team of professionals. 

9. The Ministry must fund and demonstrate a commitment to a multi-discipline team for special education.  The most cost-effective and successful education system is built on the Full Service School model.  A model where all team members are front line board employees.

10. The Ministry must provide additional funding for improved pre-service and ongoing in-service for classroom teachers and for all special education personnel.

11. The Ministry must provide dedicated funding for better data collection, reporting and sharing of special education enrolment, programs and services by schools and school boards.

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Let us not take thought for our separate interests, but let us help one another.
(OSSTF Motto)

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