Investigating the Feasibility of Portable Funding for Students with Disabilities

This document is the final report of the project Investigating the Feasibility of Portable Funding for Students with Disabilities. The work was commissioned by the former Australian Government Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST) and undertaken by the Faculty of Education, Monash University between October 2006 and June 2007.  

The project investigated Australian Government funding for school students with disabilities (SWD) in the context of complementary funding from state and territory governments and funds from other sources. The project focused on the way in which funding was allocated, particularly its portability, that is, the extent to which disability funding followed students as they moved between schools - within or between sectors (government, Catholic and independent), states and territories, type of school (special or mainstream), and level of school (primary and secondary) - and the difficulties caused for students, schools, parents and system authorities if and when the student and their funding become separated.