From Sunday Morning, 10:04 am on 3 June 2018 ​
Erika Harvey & Anne Mackintosh on Radio NZ Sunday Morning 

​In 2016-17 more than 9,000 high-needs students were funded by the Ministry of Education through its "Ongoing Resourcing Scheme" or ORS. ORS subsidises the wages for teacher aides. The average number of children receiving ORS funding equates to just over 1 percent of the school-aged population. But Greerton Village Primary School in the Bay of Plenty has 6.2 percent of its 380 students requiring ORS funding and has a $118,000 shortfall in wages. Principal of Greerton Village Primary School is Anne MacIntosh and Erika Harvey is the parent of an autistic daughter at the school.

Ministry of Education experts have visited Greerton Village School to discuss funding concerns raised parents and staff.
The experts met with the decile two school on Friday to address the funding model to help with its pupils with special needs.
Principal Anne Mackintosh said she was encouraged by the ministry's positive response and that experts were prepared to listen and see the challenges firsthand.
"They have got faces to the numbers now," she said. "We have had our voices heard, that is the first step."
Mackintosh said the experts were shown a video from parent Erika Harvey which explained the challenges parents of children with special needs faced.
Three parents of children with special needs also spoke about their experiences.
"It was very good to hear from our parents who are living it day in and day out," she said. "It made it more real."
Mackintosh told the Bay of Plenty Times the school would have to cough up more than $118,000 to fund a shortfall and said the ministry was "very much aware" of the school's funding difficulties.
She said they discussed additional funding towards increasing support for teacher aids as part of the Budget 2018 announcement but "we are not sure what that is going to look like".
At the meeting, Mackintosh said the school had proposed to set up a pilot scheme for 2-3 years and had scheduled another meeting at the school to go through details with the head of learning support on June 7.

"It is about inclusive education. We are an authentic and inclusive school," she said.
Parent Erika Harvey was also encouraged by the meeting and was happy the ministry got to meet the children personally.
Harvey's 7-year-old daughter Piper is autistic and is a pupil at Greerton Village School.
"No one ever meets these children. When I applied for funding for Piper no one came to meet her," she said.
"It was all done on a piece of paper. I had to relive the darkest hour of the darkest day just so she has more opportunity with her education."
Harvey said a video she made exploring the funding challenges helped to shine a light on the issue and had so far been viewed by more than 20,000 people.
"It is really driving awareness," she said.
Harvey hoped the ministry would consider more funding for Ongoing Resourcing Scheme (ORS) children at the school and nationwide.
"For every parent who doesn't get adequate funding for their child we have to think about leaving our fulltime jobs," she said. "Every child deserves an equitable education."
Ministry of Education deputy secretary of enablement and support Katrina Casey said the ministry would continue discussions with the school to look at ways of supporting an inclusive approach to education.
"We are working with the school to better understand their finances and identify options to address their concerns," she said.

Original Article: 
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/bay-of-plenty-times/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503343&objectid=12060205

 6:40am Friday 01 Jun, 2018 | By Kerry Mitchell [email protected]
A Bethlehem mum’s heartfelt plea to mum-to-be Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to fix the “broken” funding model for special needs students has struck a chord with parents throughout New Zealand.
Erika Harvey’s 7-year-old daughter Piper is autistic and is one of 24 special and high-needs students at Greerton Village School – more than double the number most schools have.
The school is facing a $118,482 funding shortfall this year to cater for these students – a sum it is having to fund from its operational grant instead of long-overdue upgrades of its infrastructure.
Last month Erika wrote an open letter to Jacinda Ardern asking her to fix the funding model which she, and thousands of other parents with children with special needs throughout New Zealand, believe is promoting exclusion of their children from school.
She followed this with a petition and, in the past week, the release of a moving video showing what inclusive education at Greerton Village School looks like.
The school enlisted Erika, a business consultant, to help share its plight.
“Most of what I learned I didn’t know, and I have a special needs kid. I wrote the letter hoping to get our pregnant Prime Minister’s attention because we have to change this broken funding model,” says Erika.
“We’ve got schools that are actually excluding children because it’s too expensive, and they’re winning because they get to spend their operational budget on whatever they like.
“Then we’ve got schools like Greerton Village which are fully inclusive, but are losing out because they can’t afford to buy new computers or replace the playground.”
The Ministry of Education provides funding for special and high-needs students through the Ongoing Resourcing Scheme (ORS). Around one per cent of students receive this support at any one time and the funding covers services and support such as specialists, teacher aides and consumables that aid learning.
The funding for teacher aides is for a limited number of hours, however, and Greerton Village School has increased the hours of support it offers due to the extreme needs of its students, and a desire to give its “treasures” the best education possible.
It employs 21 externally-funded teacher aides and a further two are funded by the school board. The funding shortfall this year is expected to be $118,482.
There has been a glimmer of hope, however, with high-level Ministry of Education officials from Wellington visiting the school last week to discuss the possibility of the school being involved in a pilot project to look at a new funding model.
Erika presented the video at this meeting, which was attended by both educators and parents of special needs students.
“I wanted them to see exactly how their decisions affect schools and children. These people are making decisions about us but are going home to their normal lives and leaving us to pick up the pieces.”
Erika’s inbox was “flooded” with emails with stories from other parents around New Zealand after her open letter to Jacinda Ardern was published and some of their comments appear in the video.
“What is happening in our school is happening across the entire country. This is a big problem and I think people need to know about it.”
Erika points out that ORS funding only covers children with the most severe learning needs. Many others who suffer from mild autism, dyslexia, dyspraxia and other learning difficulties receive no support at all.
“For me to receive ORS funding I have to write the worst things you can imagine about my daughter. You have to write about their darkest day.
“The main criteria is ‘can they feed and toilet themselves and control their behaviour’. The minute your child can open a packet of chips and learn how to wipe herself, she’s screwed.
“It’s so backward. To me, there is a huge opportunity to help all children with additional learning needs to be contributing members of society, instead of only focusing on the most severe. There are tonnes of children falling through the cracks.”
Greerton Village School principal Anne Macintosh says she was “very encouraged” by last week’s meeting with the Ministry of Education
 “They came receptive and ready to listen. There were no promises made, but we’ve got a further meeting set down for June 7 to set out our proposal for a pilot scheme.
“We’re being innovative and looking at solutions – not necessarily looking for a cash hand-out, but we will need support in the short term.
“We passionately believe in inclusion and these treasures bring so much into our school. Our kids are learning about acceptance, responsiveness, tolerance, compassion and respect. The only rub is the money.”
Erika believes Piper is the poster child for what successful inclusion looks like.
“When she first started school at Greerton Village she was non-verbal, violent and always taking off her clothes. My daughter is now a totally different child and that is because she goes to a school that hones in on her skills and is truly inclusive. The difference in her after two years is crazy. They are amazing.”
You can read Erika’s open letter to Jacinda Ardern here: https://www.piperslove.com/pipers-journey/dearjacinda

Original Article can be viewed: 
​https://m.sunlive.co.nz/news/180930-mums-heartfelt-plea-inclusive-education.html