Special Education Services: A Manual of Policies, Procedures and Guidelines

Funding categories are established to assist school districts in identifying the needs of students and providing appropriate education programs to them.

These categories are designed to focus on the educational needs of students regardless of the original cause(s) of those needs.

For example, a student who is hard of hearing should receive the appropriate services, regardless of the cause of the hearing impairment. Similarly, if a student presents atypical behaviours, or intellectual impairment, it is the intensity of the disability and the interventions provided that dictate the category in which the student is reported for funding purposes.

Students should be identified according to the following general guidelines:

• The current 'categorical' system is not intended to specifically identify all medically diagnosed conditions and syndromes that may have an impact on the student’s needs and educational program.
• A medical diagnosis by itself does not determine the appropriate special needs category or service required.
• Identifying and reporting students for funding purposes should involve careful determination of the nature, extent and impact of their disabling condition(s) and the nature and extent of educational interventions required.
• Students with diagnosed conditions should be identified for funding purposes in the educational category that best reflects the type and intensity of educational interventions documented in the IEP.
• Students who have an identifiable disability or diagnosis, whose needs are addressed through the support of the regular classroom teacher and/or learning assistance, counselling, speech-language pathology, should not be reported in a category that generates funding.