School's budget for SEN slashed

[99problems]

Had a letter today saying ds' school budget for SEN is being slashed by 25k. There will be a TA in the class for 4 days a week next year in year 1 and 3 days from year 2. DS has SEN and once again I am left wondering where will this end?! I'm not overly concerned about next year but 2 days a week in year 2 seems totally unreasonable.

I'm angry and upset not only for my ds but all the other children this will affect. Is the situation the same in all schools? AIBU to be livid?!

I thought they had to make up the shortfall themselves? You ought to ask this in special needs section as the posters there are VERY well informed...they'll explain it...and your rights too! x

Doesn't your child have a statement? That money won't be affected (yet).

Yes it is the same. Schools now have to provide the first 6k for funded children from their own budget. There is a formula to top schools up, but many in our county have massive shortfalls of up to at least £50k where they are having to raid savings, make redundancies, etc. it is a dreadful situation and schools are having to make considerable changes to ensure that support for children with statements is quite rightly retained. Quite how this supports all children is beyond me.

Scary what's being cut, and makes no sense. This doesn't just hurt the DC with SEN but all the class, and the teacher and the school.
(Did everyone enjoy today's Telegraph story, p. 2, that Britain "can't afford" to have a post office BTW? For sure common sense got cut some time ago???)

my child has not started school yet he is three and not speaking he may or may not be on the ASD however he is under the preschool support team and they ere telling me that if a child needs a statement of needs rather then being centrally controlled the school will control the money which may sound good but the money for a statement of needs had to be used for the named child if the school controls it will they ensure the named child gets the support they need?

Of course the cuts are awful; the people being hurt are the children- both with SEN and without. Teachers/Heads have been saying this for the last couple of years but no one is listening. When teachers try to bring up funding cuts/academies/free schools etc we just get bombarded with the 'lazy teachers, look at all the holidays they get' tag.
Tbh, in a way it is good that these things are now happening, only in that it might actually at last get parents concerned about the current issues facing education and speak up, because the government isn't listening to school staff.

How severe are your child's needs and how large is his class?

I teach children with mild - moderate SENS in small classes and have never had a TA. I don't feel the lack of one and both I and the children are fine.

If the class is large or the needs are severe then I don't know what the answer is! YADNBU to be livid.

It doesn't matter if there is a shortfall in the school's budget - if your child has a statement, the buck stops with the LEA to make sure it is met. And if they don't you can take them to court in your child's name for failure to provide and disability discrimination. There is case law on this

See R vs Oxfordshire County Council ex parte Pittick (1995)

This government really does not care about all the most vulnerable members of society, and disabled children or children with learning difficulties are right up there near the top of the list of people they care least about. Gove in particular would be delighted if he could ignore them completely. But God forbid that they should do anything sensible about tax evasion, that might hurt their friends and backers and that would never do.