Special Education Programs and Funding
This section includes:
Special Education Grant Criteria for Independent Schools
Special education grants are a specific type of special purpose grant. Annual applications from Group 1 and 2 independent schools and certified Distributed Learning (DL) programs for special education grants must be supported by the submission of significant documentation of the student's disability, including specific scores verifying the student's status. All students claimed must meet the specific criteria, be assessed by appropriately qualified professionals, and have the approval of the Special Education Provincial Review Committee appointed by the Inspector of Independent Schools.
General Requirements
Special Education grants are made available to Group 1 and 2 independent schools which provide a special education service to qualifying students as determined by the Independent School Act.
Students claimed for special education funding must be receiving an additional service which:
- is over and above the regular program;
- is clearly identifiable as a Special Education Program or service; and,
- requires additional expenditures on the part of the school.
Each student claimed must have an Individual Education Plan (IEP) as outlined in Section 1.1 of Ministerial Order 41/91, the Educational Standards Order (PDF, 56KB). The special education program or service must be in place before funding is provided.
Students claimed for such services must be assessed by appropriately qualified professionals. These may include: psychologists, teachers of the hearing impaired, teachers of the visually impaired, and developmental assessment teams such as those at Sunny Hill Hospital for Sick Children, B.C. Children's Hospital, or local Child Development Centers. Approval of all applications requires the submission of appropriate documentation of the student's disability, including specific scores verifying the student's status.
Independent school authorities and their administration team will need to demonstrate at external evaluations and monitoring inspections that the special education grants received have been expended to meet the special needs of the qualifying student(s).
Schools must ensure that each qualifying student has a completed and current Individual Education Plan (IEP) or Case Management Plan (CMP). Schools may refer to the Guidelines for Completion and Presentation of IEP's and CMP's (PDF, 38KB) and to additional information located on Special Education's website for Individual Education Planning for Students with Special Needs.
Special education funding for needs described below is included in the regular operational grants issued to independent schools. Therefore, the following categories do not qualify for supplementary special education funding or grants:
- English Language Learners (ELL)
- ADD and ADHD
- Learning Assistance
- Speech and Language Services
- Learning Disabilities including Severe Learning Disabilities (SLD)
- Mild Intellectual Disabilities (Mild Mental Handicap)
- Giftedness
Special Education Grant Levels and Specific Categories 
Information about funded special needs categories is available in Section E of the provincial document, Special Education Services: A Manual of Policies, Procedures and Guidelines (PDF, 872KB).
Schools should review the diagnostic requirements and programming information for special needs categories prior to submitting a special education funding application form.
Per-student special education funding levels are comprised of the following amounts and categories:
Level 1 ($36,600 per FTE)
Category A: Physically dependent
Category B: Deaf/Blind
Level 2 ($18,300 per FTE)
Category C: Moderate to Profound Intellectual Disability
Category D: Physical Disability or Chronic Health Impairment
Category E: Visual Impairment
Category F: Deaf or Hard of Hearing
Category G: Autism Spectrum Disorder
Level 3 ($9,200 per FTE)
Category H: Intensive Behaviour Intervention/Serious Mental Illness
Supplementary Grant Application Forms
Schools are required to submit an application form each year for eligible special needs students. Please download the current Special Education Grant Application Form and Parent/Guardian Consultation Form.
The following support documents are provided to assist schools in completing application forms and developing special needs programs:
Special Education Schools
Special education schools are independent schools that exclusively serve students with learning disabilities, behavioural disorders, or who are deaf or hard of hearing, requiring instruction in groups of five or fewer students for the majority of the school day. The only schools included are those that were funded before mainstreaming became the norm in the public school system, were recognized by the Office of the Inspector of Independent Schools, and received funding as independent special education schools during the 1991/1992 school year. These schools are: Discovery School, Fraser Academy, Glen Eden School, James Cameron School, Kenneth Gordon School, and the Children's Hearing and Speech Centre of BC (formerly known as the Vancouver Oral Centre for Deaf Children).
Auditory Training Equipment (ATE)
Assessment of the need for Auditory Training Equipment is provided by the Ministry of Health Services. Funding for purchase, repair, routine maintenance, replacement and monitoring of provincial requirements for Auditory Training Equipment in the B.C. public schools and Group 1 and 2 independent schools is provided through the Ministry of Education through a protocol agreement with the Ministry of Health Services. The local Health Unit or Health Department audiologist is responsible for ongoing monitoring and adjustment of the equipment.
For information regarding the rental of appropriate auditory training equipment, please see Appendix H.2.1 in the B.C. Special Education Services: A Manual of Policies, Procedures and Guidelines (PDF, 872KB).
Provincial Resource Centre for the Visually Impaired (PRCVI)
The Ministry of Education has established a central pool of essential specialized instructional resources that may be borrowed at no cost by school districts and Group 1 and 2 independent schools enrolling visually impaired students. In addition, through a national interlibrary loan agreement, PRCVI is able to access resources held in all other educational resources centres for the visually impaired in Canada.
For information regarding the borrowing of specialized educational resources, please see Appendix H.2.3 in the B.C. Special Education Services: A Manual of Policies, Procedures and Guidelines (PDF, 872KB).
Special Education Technology-BC (SET-BC)
SET-BC is a Provincial Resource Program established to assist school districts, and Group 1 and 2 independent schools in supporting educational programs of special needs students through the use of technology. Additional information about the SET-BC application process for independent schools is available on this SET-BC website.
SET-BC services are limited to students currently approved for supplementary special education funding in Category A, B, C, D, E, or G, and whose access to the curriculum is restricted by his/her disability.
Schools that have a student(s) who may qualify for SET-BC services must complete and submit a SET-BC Screening Form to the Office of the Inspector of Independent Schools. SET-BC accepts Screening Forms three times a year; the dates for submissions are posted to the independent schools' eboard.
ARC-BC (Accessible Resource Centre - British Columbia)
ARC-BC is a B.C. Ministry of Education funded response to the increasing demand for digital or alternate format alternatives to print in B.C. classrooms. ARC-BC is a collection of alternate format materials for students with perceptual challenges and is based on recommended resources for the B.C. K-12 curriculum.
Access to ARC-BC is limited to registered users only. The following provide information about applying and registering for ARC-BC:
Special Education Resources
