Ontario Special Education Funding: How Is It Determined?

Approximately 12.5 % of the overall education funding, the special education grant increased from $1.6 billion in 2002-03 to $3.2 billion in 2020-21. For equity and inclusion, demands to increase the special education funding continue. Students with exceptionalities are at risk of lower achievement. All schools must provide special education programs. However, there has been no study investigating the special education grant per se. The purpose of this study is to examine how the special education grant for elementary and secondary students with exceptionalities in Ontario, Canada, is determined. The research questions are: How is the special education grant determined? How is funding for different exceptionalities determined? Document analysis is the main method for this study, but the author has also contacted the Ministry of Education for information not available through open documents. This article reviews funding information since 1998 and indicates that the special education grant increases almost annually. It is decided with a variety of mechanisms with six components. Three are determined mainly by total enrollment and three are determined mainly by claimed cases for different exceptionalities. The article helps us understand how the special education grant is determined, informing the discussion on policies of funding for students with exceptionalities.