The principal provisions governing special education in Ontario were introduced into
the
Education Act by the Education Amendment Act of 1980 (Bill 82). Many of the
provisions of Bill 82 have been changed or removed by subsequent amendments to
the
Education Act. Consequently, the actual text of Bill 82 is of historical interest
only. However, the principal provisions of Bill 82 remain in the
Education Act. These
include:
- the responsibility of school boards to provide (or to purchase from another
board) special education programs and special education services for their
exceptional pupils (paragraph 7 of subsection 170(1))
- a special education program is defined as an educational program that is based
on and modified by the results of a continuous assessment and evaluation of
the pupil and that includes a plan (now referred to as an Individual Education
Plan) containing specific objectives and an outline of the educational services
that meets the needs of the exceptional pupil (subsection 1(1))
- the responsibility of the Minister (subsection 8(3)):
- to require school boards to implement procedures for the early and ongoing
identification of the learning abilities and needs of students
- to define exceptionalities of pupils and to prescribe classes, groups or
categories of exceptional pupils and to require the use of these definitions
by school boards
- to provide an appeal process for parents concerning special education
identification and/or placement decisions;
- to ensure that special education programs and services are provided without
payment of fees by school boards to their exceptional pupils
- the establishment of the Ontario Special Education Tribunal to provide final
and binding arbitration in disagreements between a parent and school board
concerning the identification or placement of an exceptional pupil.
www.edu.gov.on.ca is the link for administrators, staff, parents and advocates
to get information regarding special education in Ontario.