The September Scramble: Pushing Paper and Counting Codes

You might be wondering why you haven’t heard from your child’s case manager yet, or why supports and accommodations aren’t in place even though we’re already two weeks into the school year. The truth is, staff are often too busy pushing paper and documenting files to provide the actual support students need, and that simply isn’t good enough. These first weeks are crucial. They can set the foundation for a positive school year, yet instead of investing time in relationships and support, the system forces staff into compliance mode.

In BC, September 29 is treated as a line in the sand for inclusive education funding. Schools must submit their numbers by this date, and the Ministry of Education locks in funding based on who has been identified and coded. Every fall, this deadline creates a scramble and a frenzy. At an already overwhelming time of year, teachers and administrators become more focused on making sure files are in order than on actually supporting students. The urgency is about reporting to the Ministry, not about meeting children where they are.

But here’s the bigger problem: disabilities don’t begin and end on deadlines. They don’t depend on whether funding is available. They exist every day, and so do students’ rights. Funding being contingent on a date might make sense on a budget line, but it makes no sense when we’re talking about human beings whose needs cannot and should not be reduced to a dollar amount.

For parents, it can be confusing to understand what exactly schools are rushing to do at this time of year. Behind the scenes, staff are gathering assessments, updating paperwork, and making sure Individual Education Plans (IEPs) are dated and worded in ways that meet Ministry requirements. This doesn’t necessarily mean your child is suddenly getting more support. It means the school is working to ensure that your child can be counted for funding. The process is often shaped more by compliance rules than by what a student actually needs.

To identify a student in an Inclusive Education funding category, the following codes are used:

CODES CATEGORY TITLE
A – Physically Dependent
B – Deafblind
C – Moderate to Profound Intellectual Disability
D – Physical Disability or Chronic Health Impairment
E – Visual Impairment
F – Deaf or Hard of Hearing
G – Autism Spectrum Disorder
H – Intensive Behaviour Intervention/Serious Mental Illness
K – Mild Intellectual Disability
P – Gifted
Q – Learning Disability
R – Moderate Behaviour Support/Mental Illness

Each of these categories is tied to a different funding level in the Ministry’s Inclusive Education Policy. High-incidence categories, such as Learning Disability or Mild Intellectual Disability, generate little or no targeted funding, while low-incidence categories, such as Autism, Deafblindness, or Physically Dependent, generate higher dollar amounts. In practice, this means that students with equally significant barriers may receive very different levels of financial support depending on how they are coded. It is an arrangement that makes sense for budgets but not for human needs.

For the September count, schools must provide documentation showing that the student has been assessed and identified, that a current IEP is in place with goals tied to the category, that support services are outlined and related to the identified needs, and that parents have been consulted. There must also be evidence that the student is being offered learning activities in line with the IEP.

Additionally, for categories A through H, the student must be receiving inclusive education services on a regular basis (beyond speech therapy, counseling, physiotherapy, OT, psychology, or hospital/homebound instruction). A plan for the delivery of these services must be in place by September 29 to claim funding.

This is where the flaws of the system show up most clearly. IEPs are often biased and contain ableist language because the government dictates that the goals must correspond to the funding category. The result is cookie-cutter assumptions: all autistic students need social goals, all students with behaviour designations need compliance goals. This isn’t individualized education; it is bureaucracy masquerading as support.

Families often hear after September 29: “We can’t provide more support because the deadline passed.” But this logic is unjust. Disability is not negotiable. The right to equitable education is not conditional on when paperwork is filed. Human rights obligations and the duty to accommodate are in effect every single day of the year.

The funding model creates a barrier that shifts responsibility from the system to the student. Schools are allowed to say “our funding doesn’t cover it” instead of admitting the truth: students have a right to access education with the supports they need, regardless of dates, deadlines, or ministry snapshots.

Families deserve transparency. You deserve to know that while September 29 determines how much money a district receives, it does not limit your child’s right to accommodation. When you are told otherwise, it’s not your child’s disability that is the problem; it’s the system.

And this is where change must happen. A system that treats student needs as fixed to a date and as dollar amounts will always fail to reflect the ongoing and fluctuating realities of children’s lives. Funding must move with students, not trap them in snapshots. Teachers must be freed from pushing paper and returned to their real work, collaborating with students, building relationships, and supporting growth. Until the system shifts from compliance to care, the scramble will continue, and students will continue to pay the price.

Until the system shifts from compliance to care, the scramble will continue, and students will continue to pay the price. That is why families must be vocal. Ask questions. Reach out to the school. Push back when you are told “there’s no funding” or “the deadline passed.” Your child’s rights are not negotiable, and they do not expire on September 29. The more we raise our voices, the harder it becomes for the system to ignore the truth: every student deserves support, every single day of the year.