ABSTRACT
In understanding and studying learning disabilities in Canada, two important facts come to the fore and must be registered. First, there is the unique autonomy of provinces in matters concerning health and education. Specifically, after the federal government transfers funds to the provinces, the latter have absolute power in the use of those funds for health and education. Second, there is no federal or provincial legislation that requires mandatory access to special education services for every elementary or secondary student diagnosed with learning disabilities (LD). In British Columbia for example, the ministry of education provides each school district two sets of funds: one for core programs in regular education, the other is supplementary funding targeting funding within special education. Together with students with behaviour disorders (BD) and those who are educable mentally retarded (EMR), students with severe learning disabilities (SLD) are included in the supplementary funding of high-incidence special needs students. However, the British Columbia government can impose a cap on the funding of these students, as it does at present, at 4.5%. Thus, regardless of the actual number of students with SLD in any school district, only a certain percentage gets served with special education services. How does such government capping translate into distribution of service delivery? To answer this question, we give the following example. In the suburban school district of Coquitlam in British Columbia, this 4.5% cap translates to 2% SLD, 2% BD and .5% EMR students, with an allocation of $3,200 per student. Although the cap applies to all school districts in special needs service delivery in British Columbia, variations may occur in what high-incidence special needs student categories are subsumed under it.
