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By Chris Brown

Public school division knows benefits of low-incidence disability funding

Sep 20, 2023 | 4:13 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – The city’s public school division will be applying for provincial funding to help students with disabilities.

Last week the provincial government announced $5 million in funding this school year.

“The thing that it does is it eases the pressure on the system to do what they would have done anyway but not have to take from another area,” Supt. Mark Davidson explains.

The funding allows school authorities to hire or train staff or provide equipment and education resources to support students with low-incidence disabilities such as visual impairment, deaf and hard-of-hearing students and complex communication needs.

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Medicine Hat Public School Division utilized the same program last year for resources like books and a touch-screen communication device and for professional development.

Davidson says with relatively few students with low-incidence disabilities it’s hard for certain school divisions to maintain the services themselves.

“So I think the things that we are doing for students who fit into those criteria are things that we would do,” Davidson says. “What the government is doing is providing us funding that allows us to not have to make hard choices when we do it.”

According to the province, there are about 7,500 students in Alberta who have low-incidence disabilities, or about one per cent of the total student population.