Canada: High-Cost Special Education Program

Deadline: 15-May-22

The Indigenous Services Canada (ISC)’s High-Cost Special Education Program (HCSEP) is now open to help eligible First Nations students with high-cost special education needs to access quality programs and services that are culturally sensitive and reflective of generally accepted provincial or territorial standards.

The High-Cost Special Education Program (HCSEP) provides additional investments to recipients who provide services for students who ordinarily live on reserve and whose special education needs cannot be met within the current resources that are available for the general student population.

Objectives

The objective of the HCSEP is to improve the educational achievement levels of First Nations students on reserve by providing for access to quality and culturally-sensitive special education programs and services to:

enable students with moderate to profound high-cost special education needs to achieve their fullest potential
increase the number of special needs students acquiring a high school diploma or a certificate of completion

Eligibility Criteria

To qualify as an eligible participant, the following criteria must be met:

the student is enrolled and participating in education programing in:
- a First Nations, federal, provincial or a private or independent school recognized by the province in which the school is located as an elementary or secondary institution
- an E-learning institution
- an alternative or outreach school
- an Aboriginal Head Start On Reserve facility
- an early learning program hosted in an early learning centre
an IEP must be in place or being created when a student has been identified by the school administration or a team of experts as having high-cost special education needs. The IEP must map the student’s progress during the school year
the student’s age is from 4 to 21 years, or the age range eligible for elementary and secondary education support in the province of residence, on December 31 of the school year in which funding support is required
the student is ordinarily resident on reserve (a student who is ordinarily resident on reserve lands that are leased is not eligible for funding unless that student is a registered Indian)
Ordinarily resident on reserve means that the student usually lives at a civic address on reserve, is a child in joint custody who lives on reserve most of the time or is staying on reserve and has no usual home elsewhere.