Cash pledge on disabled unit

A Naenae school fearful for the future of a unit catering for profoundly disabled children after a Budget cut is being assured that the Education Ministry will not let it close.

A $2.5 million cut affecting some special education services looked likely to jeopardise the future of Naenae Primary School's conductive learning unit, which looks after children whose disabilities are so severe that some of them cannot walk, talk or hold objects.

Other schools with conductive learning units or special facilities for profoundly disabled children are also worried about the impact of the Budget cut.

But the ministry's special education service promised last night that money would be found to keep the Naenae unit going although the money may have to come out of the schools' other services.

The $2.5m was among savings identified by the ministry under a belt-tightening exercise ordered by the Government.

Questioned in Parliament yesterday by Labour leader Phil Goff, Finance Minister Bill English said the education minister had made "a number of decisions about priorities" in the Budget.

Jacky Burgon, acting regional manager of special education, said the $2.5m fund would not be restored, but the ministry would work with Naenae school to find money from elsewhere.

However, principal Murray Bootten said there was no way the school could come up with the $38,000 shortfall through savings in other areas. "We are running very close to the wind as it is. We hada huge deficit last year in our annual account."

The extra funding covered the cost of a qualified conductor one of a handful in New Zealand who have had specialist training, which is available only in Hungary or Scotland. The school provided a $4000 top-up.

He was angry that private schools had been awarded a $35m Budget boost by the Government while funding for special schools was cut. "It's all a bit of a shock to be told our funding will be cut at the end of the year."

There are eight full-time pupils at Naenae, with two others attending part-time. Placing those pupils into a typical classroom environment did not work.

"These children need assistance and supervision with eating and toileting. They wouldn't get the same support if they were in the mainstream it would just be totally impossible."

Parent Sonia Dobson said her 14-year-old daughter had been in conductive education since she was three months old. "She's severely disabled, got cerebral palsy, is a quadriplegic and doesn't speak. For her to be mainstreamed she just can't do it."

WHAT IS IT?

Conductive education is a system designed for children and adults who have motor disorders of neurological origin such as cerebral palsy.

- © Fairfax NZ News