This past Saturday Education Minister Sébastien Proulx made a little-noticed announcement regarding the new budgetary rules to be in place for the 2017-2018 school year.
The new rules change when services will be offered to students with disabilities or serious behavioral disorders.
Previously schools would submit requests for additional funding for the students in the fall, but it would until the spring for the Ministry to review the case and provide the money. Proulx said the system was broken and is no more.
He said starting in September, for the first time, requests made at the start of the school year will no longer need Ministry approval, allowing students to get the help they need five months earlier.
The full details of the new funding model will be hashed out in the coming months.
Another new rule, all Secondary III (Grade 9) students will be required to take a Cardiopulmonary resuscitation course.
The Education Minister has set aside $500,000 for schools to bring in instructors from the Red Cross, St. John Ambulance, or another organization to teach the class. The other option available to schools would be to have a staff member become a certified CPR instructor and teach the class themselves.