Students with learning disabilities lose out

Students with learning disabilities will get less help next year now that education officials have approved cuts to classroom assistants.

The Iqaluit District Education Authority accepted the 10 per cent cut to classroom support services “with reservation and disappointment” at their meeting on June 22. The funding covers staffing for students who need individual attention.

IDEA member Katherine Trumper accused the Nunavut government of cutting funding where teachers said they needed it most.

“We know the [government]’s situation is tight,” she said. “[But] you cannot cut the budgets going into the classrooms. This is what teachers are pleading for, more funding in the classrooms.”

Peter Geikie, assistant deputy minister of education, said the Baffin region didn’t lose any funding for classroom support this year.

Geikie said a special committee of school principals, consultants, and classroom assistants that advises government decided to cut one position.