(UK) Isle of Wight: Parents of SPED kids part of national protest; 'whole system broken'

June 3, 2019, Isle of Wight County Press: Island families demand government acts to end funding crisis for children with special educational needs and disabilities https://www.countypress.co.uk/news/17681475.island-families-demand-government-acts-to-end-funding-crisis-for-children-with-special-educational-needs-and-disabilities/ MORE than 50 parents took to the streets of Newport to demand the government act to end the national crisis in special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) funding. The protest was organised alongside 26 other rallies across the country. According to the National Education Union, special needs provision in England has lost out on £1.2 billion since 2015. The union said funding granted to local authorities had failed to keep pace with the demand for SEND provision. … “The whole system is broken, and it’s not fair that children are paying the price for austerity. … The Isle of Wight has the highest proportion of home educated children in the UK, at almost one in 50. Although the Isle of Wight Council has attributed the high levels in part to under-reporting elsewhere in the country, Colleen said this was in part due to families with SEND children taking them out of school due to a lack of support. … “We are damaging a lot of children because of the lack of provision.”…