Education spokeswoman Michelle O'Byrne raised the issue with Education minister Jeremy Rockliff in parliament this week, with an understanding that eight of the eSchool's 22 staff members would be cut.

Mr Rockliff said the staff quota at the school was excessive.

He said the assertion was just plain wrong, and the enrolment policy had not changed.

''As with all Tasmanian Government schools staffing levels at the Tasmanian eSchool increases and decreases in line with enrolments.  This is to ensure there is adequate staffing for the number of students enrolled each year.  As such, there will continue to be adequate resourcing to ensure good educational outcomes for students taking part in the Tasmanian eSchool next year and into the future,'' Mr Rockliff said.

''The student's enrolment remains with the school to enable transition to the main stream school ... many high schools are currently successfully providing (online and blended) learning opportunities for students with medical and psychological issues, thereby reducing the registrations with eSchool.'' 

But TDERL founder Kristen Desmond said the enrolment policy for eSchool students changed this year, where all students except those who used eSchool for distance reasons would remain enrolled in their mainstream schools and be simply registered with eSchool.

She said this accounted for the administrative drop in enrolments, and that the numbers of students using eSchool had not declined.

''Putting students who have had the system fail them back into mainstream schools ... will see retention rates of students with disability drop even further,'' she said.

''Any changes to the Tasmanian eSchool staffing levels will impact the support provided to students and this was exactly the opposite of what parents were told when the change in enrolment practice was made.'' 

Ms O'Byrne said Mr Rockliff should rethink his staffing cut decision.

''In a time when we are accepting that we need to be more flexible about meting the needs of students with disability to ensure they that they do succeed at school, we should be growing the range of opportunities available to meet those needs and not restricting them,'' she said.