The data was revealed in the Tasmanian Disability Education Reform Lobby’s 2017 Tasmanian School Experience Snapshot Survey. 

The survey found that more than 30 per cent of families reported that their child’s start to the year was worse than last year.

It said “this snapshot does not paint a positive start to the year for many families”. 

The survey encompassed 86 families.

“We are particularly concerned that families are indicating that students with disability are receiving cuts to the already inadequate levels of support currently provided to them, especially at a time when all politicians are telling us there is more money being spent on students with disability that ever before,” Tasmanian Disability Education Reform Lobby founder Kristen Desmond said. 

More than half of participants in the lobby’s survey reported that an individual education plan meeting had not taken place.

Education Minister Jeremy Rockliff said the state government recognised the view of parents that it could do better, and agreed, which “is why we are continuing to work to improve the education of students with disability, establishing the Inclusion Advisory Panel to implement the recommendations of the Ministerial Taskforce report into Education for Students with Disabilities”.

“This will assist all Tasmanian Government schools to be disability ready and responsive, to continuously improve through high quality teaching and learning, to work with communities in partnership, and align resources to inclusive education practice,” he said.

Mr Rockliff said the government would always listen to the views of parents. 

Federal Education Minister Simon Birmingham said extreme disparity between Nationally Consistent Collection of Data for Students with Disability between states showed while some important steps had been taken, current data was “far from nationally consistent” and collaboratively working with states to improve the quality could better inform distribution of record and growing federal funding.

“There is still a lot of work to be done before the data can be used as a benchmark for primary funding decisions for students with disability, where the Commonwealth alone will provide a record of almost $1.5 billion in 2017,” Mr Birmingham said.

“As states and territories acknowledged during the Education Council meeting in December, the NCCD was just one of a number of factors that could be considered when making funding decisions and, even then, it still has a long way to go.”