The government has backed down on special needs education, announcing that the present funding for additional therapy services at 23 schools will be retained. Good. These are some of New Zealand's neediest kids, and they need all the help they can get to give them a chance at a normal life; cutting their funding was a simply evil decision, and I am glad it has been reversed.
OTOH, as National pointed out in its earlier efforts to defend the indefensible, not all schools get this funding. They should. The total cost would be about $30 million, coincidentally the amount they are pumping into private schools to subsidise the snobbery of the rich. Cutting the latter to fund the former should be an absolute no-brainer. The fact that National hasn't done this speaks volumes about their priorities.
