Families left in the lurch
Jordan’s Principle was designed to support Indigenous children’s success - but cuts to what it covers might leave some children behind. File photo
Families of children who rely on Jordan’s Principle funding to pay for private schools may have just a few short weeks to figure out how to pay or find new school options, after Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) said it’ll be unable to cover tuition fees through the program.
Kirsten Sheridan, a health programs liaison at Onkwata’karitahtshera, which coordinates Jordan’s Principle funding requests in Kahnawake, said that around $700,000 of private school tuition had been covered by Jordan’s Principle for students from the community over the last fiscal year, and that without continuity, many families could face major disruption to their children’s education.
For many community members, private schools allow students to access supports that they might not be able to from Kahnawake Education Schools (KEC) including specialized care for learning difficulties, or schools that utilize smaller class sizes for students facing particular challenges in their education.
Centennial Academy, for example, supports more than 40 students from Kahnawake, often catering to specific learning needs associated with autism, attention deficit disorder, and dyslexia, among others.
“All of our students that go there are there for good reason, and they’re excelling because of that specific environment that Centennial can provide,” Sheridan said, adding that even less specialized schools than Centennial can be key to supporting children with specific needs on their learning journeys.
“We’d hope that all private school tuition would be covered, as long as there’s that connection between the needs of the child and the environment that the school provides.”
The KEC has written to Mandy Gull-Masty, the minister of Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) to express its concern about the suspension of private school funding.
Curran Jacobs, KEC’s provincial school liaison facilitator said that the funding decision could leave many families high and dry, and many students who are desperately in need of specialized education environments may be put in situations that are not conducive to their learning.
“The school environment can make a really big difference in a student’s success, so when a family has finally landed on a school that is working for their child, and there’s funding that allows them to have access to it, for it to be suddenly taken away is very, very challenging and very unfortunate,” Jacobs said.
She said that removing funding for students who most seriously need it goes against what Jordan’s Principle is supposed to be about - removing barriers to success for Indigenous children.
“They’re not holding up their end of the bargain anymore,” she said.
Not only will the suspension harm families who use the funding, it’ll also place an additional administrative burden on the KEC, who weren’t anticipating a possible intake of new students that might find themselves with no other option.
“School starts in about a month from now, so this is a really challenging time for everyone, and for the KEC, it leaves insufficient time for a possible influx of students coming into our system,” Jacobs said.
“It leaves families feeling like they don’t know what to do because they knew where their kids were going, and now they’re unsure.”
Though ISC announced operational changes to Jordan’s Principle in February, additional information about the impact on private school tuition only became available this month, making it particularly hard for KEC and Onkwata’karitahtshera to adjust.
“It would have been different if it wasn’t in July. It shouldn’t have ever come to this because this is what this funding is designed for, it was an opportunity for these children to be successful, and their timing is not ideal for anyone,” Jacobs said.
There’s no resources that either Onkwata’karitahtshera or KEC have to help families who might now be facing a lack of tuition funding for the upcoming year.
“I’ve had families reach out to me and I’ve tried to look around but the alternative is public school, there’s no funding source designated specifically for this,” Jacobs said.
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In an email to The Eastern Door, Jacinthe Goulet, a spokesperson for ISC, confirmed that private school tuition will no longer be approved through Jordan’s Principle, unless required by “substantive equality.”
She added that cases such as that would include accommodations for “exceptionality-related needs” such as deafness or blindness, and that education funding is to be the responsibility of the provincial government.
