CUTS to the education budget have left a number of Tasmanian schools worried about their ability to provide quality education to students with high and additional needs, opposition education spokesman Michael Ferguson said yesterday.
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Education Minister Nick McKim said the government was willing to "look at anything" that would improve educational outcomes.
"And that includes looking at the support we give to special needs students," he said.
"But the simple fact is we are investing more this year into supporting special needs students than we did last year.
"We've actually increased the funding to students on the severe disability register by nearly $1 million this year and there are more students on that register than there were last year."
While schools with students on the severe disability register are guaranteed to receive funding, Mr Ferguson said other students with disabilities received funding on a discretionary basis from their school's budget.
"Mr McKim's budget cuts mean individual schools no longer have the discretionary funds to cover the cost of support to students with high and additional needs," he said.
Mr Ferguson said some parents of children with special needs were facing the choice of paying for their child to retain teacher aide time at a cost of up to $30,000 a year or having no aide support.
Autism Tasmania acting chief executive Kristen Desmond said some families had grave concerns about their child's education.
"The government continues to focus on severe disability ... register funding and that, for the bulk of students with a disability in Tasmania, does not affect them; SDR funding affects around about 1 per cent of students (with additional needs) so what we're asking about is the rest of the students in Tasmania who have high and additional needs."
Mr McKim said the Education Department did not ask parents to fund teacher aide support for their children.
