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Students with disabilities and mental-health problems will wait longer for help from a specialist after a planned reduction in funding across the province, say parents and educators.

This year, $3.6 million that once paid for school divisions, health-care workers, and social workers to collaborate will be redirected to help fulfil a $50-million provincial government promise to reduce school fees.

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“I would say almost any of the other options would have been better than cutting our most vulnerable students out of the supports that they need,” said Chinook’s Edge School Division superintendent Kurt Sacher. “And it’s not just the most vulnerable students this affects.”

At issue is a program called the Regional Collaborative Services Delivery model. Since 2014, it gives school-age children better access to health care and social services workers.

It has led to more help in classrooms for visually-impaired and hearing-impaired students, and quicker responses to students with mental-health problems, among other challenges.