Ottawa's special needs students are likely to face the brunt of the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board's $32-million budget shortfall.

The board released a series of staff recommendations Wednesday that include cutting nearly 50 teaching and support positions to balance its budget.

"There are proposed cuts in other areas of the budget but special education is certainly affected to a considerable degree," said school district chair Lynn Graham.

Educational assistants, speech pathologists, occupational therapists, psychologists and social workers could all see their positions eliminated.

"I'm dismayed, I mean, we've been down this road before," says Pam Fitzgerald, the mother of a special-needs child and past chair of the Ottawa-Carleton Assembly of School Councils.

"I think every child in the classroom is affected, because somehow the regular classroom teacher has to make do and often they have classes [of] up to 50 per cent special-needs children." 

Not enough to pay teachers?

Fitzgerald said part of the problem is that the board doesn't receive enough money to pay teachers the salaries that were negotiated in their contracts.

"By law they have to put forward a balanced budget," Fitzgerald explained. "But the ministry isn't sending them sufficient funds to balance that budget."

Graham notes that teachers' salaries are just one of the reasons the school board is facing tough choices now.

"The announcement of the [provincial] budget grant was very, very late this year," she says. "By the time the grant announcements came out, 80 per cent of our budget had been committed through our contract obligations."

Looking for deal

Graham says the board is looking for a better deal from the province.

"I'm very positive about the opportunities we have to look at this budget — to consult with the province [and] to consult with out constituents and make sure there is a positive outcome."

The board is also looking at using reserve funds to cushion part of the shortfall.

Public meetings are scheduled for next week.

The board must submit its balanced budget to the province by Aug. 28.