‘She could point’: Why children with high needs are still being denied support
Saturday, 4 July 2026
A non-verbal, non toilet-trained child needing constant supervision was turned down because she could label objects.
A year 9 student unable to write his own name, who wears headphones and a gas mask was declined because he could log into a computer and scrape his lunch scraps into the compost.
These are some of the reasons the Ministry of Education has denied children learning support, leaving schools to absorb the cost -- or go without.
In last year’s Budget, $636 million was earmarked for learning support, a move that Education Minister Erica Stanford called the “most significant investment in learning support in a generation”.
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This included a $122.5m investment into the Ongoing Resourcing Scheme (ORS), which supports children with high and complex learning needs.
Educators, who have long said there is a shortfall, celebrated the 2025 Budget, which came with an announcement that the funding model would change, so that every child who met the criteria would receive support.
However, Ministry of Education data shows that the dial hasn’t really shifted.
in the year leading up to the landmark learning support Budget, 1786 ORS applications were granted; a 79% approval rate.
In the year post-Budget, 1821 ORS applications were granted, and 658 declined: a 73% approval rate.
Berhampore Primary School principal Mark Potter was sceptical about the claim that the funding was demand driven.
“That’s not substantiated by the fact that so many schools that are demanding it aren't getting it.”
With only so much support to go round, a parent had described the system as “the Hunger Games”, Potter said.
“You are competing with every other parent to try and get your child resources.”
In May, a report by Aotearoa Educators’ Collective laid bare the gap in learning support. Beyond Capacity found that little had changed since the 2025 Budget.
This month, report author Dr Sarah Aiono released a supplementary report that took a closer look at ORS.
Principals, senior leaders, learning support co-ordinators and teachers said applications were declined based on tasks the children were able to complete, rather than their needs.
For example, one school in Porirua applied for a year 9 student with an autism diagnosis. He was unable to read or write, even his own name; did not know his address or days of the week, was unable to work independently, and regularly wore headphones and a gas mask, which he refused to remove.
His application was declined because he was able to login to a computer; could sit alongside his peers at lunch, and was able to scrape his leftovers into the compost and stack his container.
His family was 'extremely distressed“, his school reported. And they were worried, too.
'We have huge concerns for his future without the option for ongoing support,“ the school said.
Ministry of Education data shows that last year more than 12,000 students had ORS support, which can take the form of teacher aides, specialists and classroom tools. Once approved, the support stays with the student throughout their entire schooling journey.
Potter, who said the earlier a child received this support the better the outcome, had his own examples of children being denied help.
A couple of years ago a non-verbal child’s application was turned down “on the basis that she’d pointed at something”.
“They said that shows self-efficacy, that she's able to make a choice on her own.”
It took two more applications ‒ a process that took a huge amount of time and resourcing ‒ to get the child the help she needed.
According to Aiono’s report, some principals said they no longer submitted applications.
“… Even where significant need is evident because the time required to prepare an application is substantial and the perceived likelihood of approval is low,” it said.
However, Potter persisted.
“We will make applications even when we're actively dissuaded to not do them. Because we have learned that it can take two or three applications to get it.”
And there was a catch-22 in delaying, he added.
“[The ministry] will say that as there were no applications earlier, clearly there was no problem.”
Gareth Sinton from Douglas Park School in Masterton said it was disheartening to have applications knocked back because students had developed skills with the school's support.
“The worst thing is, we're getting kids declined because we've done such a good job with them.
“It is really devastating for teachers because you bust your gut to do an amazing thing, shifting this kid from reading at an emerging level to being ever so slightly higher than that: and that locks them out of support.
“We've actually done the kids a disservice by doing the right thing for them.”
He’d had two ORS applications declined last year.
“There's another one in the pipeline that we know is going to get declined, but what do you do? You’ve got to try and get help somehow.”
Sinton cited a student whose application to be reclassified from “high” to “very high” needs was declined because he could respond to his name and follow simple instructions.
“This kid is non-verbal, non-responsive and is going to need support for the rest of his time at school, but .. because he could do a few basic things, he’s shut out of support.
“The applications are massive, a lot of work, and the thought of having to do that again and knowing at best, you've got a 50-50 shot … it’s disheartening.”
A problem decades in the making
The number of children supported by ORS has doubled in the last 20 years. But Potter said this is still low: the scheme’s criteria has failed to fully recognise neurodivergent learners, and a swell of children entering school with high needs.
And, the principal added, a successful ORS application did not fully fund a student for all their hours at school: the school needed to come up with $10,000 each year to close that gap.
This year, five high-needs children had started at his school. All had ORS funding, but Potter would have to come up with quarter of a million dollars to support these students during their five years at his school.
Potter said his school's commitment to meeting the needs of every student had seen it become a lighthouse school, recognised for best practice.
“We've had parents move up from Nelson to get into our suburb so they can get into our school. That's how desperate parents are … but we still struggle because we're not resourced.”
To Potter, providing this support early on was a no brainer.
“Imagine how much money we can save in the system long-term if we invest early rather than late. But the system is trying to make it as late as possible because … if you give them the funding just before they hit intermediate or high school, you've saved 50% of what you would have spent on that child.“
Although it was easy to point at the current Government, under-resourced learning support was a decades-long problem.
“We need to have a more long-term view on what is good for the children because no government will be around the entire time that these 5-year-olds are going to be in my school.”
The ministry’s learning support deputy secretary, Bridget White, denied there was a quota: the decisions were made on eligibility only, she said.
“If the needs of an ākonga meet one of the nine ORS criterion, they are included in the ORS no matter how many have also been included that week, month or year.”
The Post asked why applications were turned down on the basis of things children could do, rather than their needs.
“The entire profile of the student is considered when making an assessment decision for the ORS, however the whole of at least one criterion needs to be met,“ White said. ”While an ākonga may be nonspeaking, this is but one factor in their whole profile.“
Regarding the shortfall that schools have to meet, White said ORS was just one funding component, and schools could fund support via their operational or learning budget.
The ministry added that Budget 2025 funding is being rolled out over several years, with additional teacher aides, specialists and Learning Support Coordinators progressively introduced from term 1 this year.
It said early signs showed more children were accessing support sooner, although the full impact of the investment would take time.