Over the years, the funding had been used by Student Learning Support Officers with high expertise to help students with personal care, health care, playground supervision, and school excursions. The cuts across the state will total $4.4 million.
The announced cuts have connected the community by a common cause, with Families Against Disability Discrimination leading the rally. Teachers as well as students have spoken out that these changes will cost the state department more in the future, and this is a temporary solution at best.
As the state department’s advertising budget is $5.6 million, citizens of NSW make the point that cuts can be taken elsewhere across several different fields and not in the large $4.4 million sum they plan. The citizens continue to stand up against the cuts as they deprive these students of a basic human right and they feel as though they are being discriminated against by the government’s plans to cut such a large portion from this one source. Rallies such as this one have impacted the state department in the past, and the stakeholders remain hopeful this trend will be repeated once again.
For more information on the rally, go to: Australian Rally
