The Victorian Greens have called on Labor to reverse their heartless decision to cut hundreds of millions of dollars in disability support for public school students.
The Carroll Labor Government has quietly cut funding for the Disability Inclusion (DI) program which will result in 7000 students - one in six currently receiving support -losing that support entirely.
The Greens say the cuts are a disgraceful betrayal of students with disability, their families and teachers, who are already struggling in Victoria's chronically underfunded public school system.
The cuts are yet another blow to Victoria's chronically underfunded public schools, coming just a week after Labor tried to dress up its delayed school funding as a major new commitment.
In reality, Victoria was the last state to sign a long-term school funding agreement, and the deal confirms that Victorian public schools - already the lowest funded in the country - will have to wait until 2034 to receive the full funding they need, years later than Labor originally promised.
As stated by the Victorian Greens spokesperson for Education and Disability, Anasina Gray-Barberio:
"This utterly heartless decision really just shows how low Labor has sunk. This is thousands of public school kids with complex wellbeing and learning needs having support ripped away from them, they're not just a budget line for Labor to cut to subsidise their sugar hit election announcements.
"After 12 years of Labor, we have the lowest funded public schools in the country. Last week Labor was trying to sell delays to school funding as a victory, and this week they're making children with disabilities pay for its budget problems.
"Public education is one of the most important investments we can make in our future. Labor should reverse these cruel cuts immediately. We deserve so much better than a government reaching for public schools and children with disabilities whenever they're looking for places to cut funding."
