Special Education Funding Designations: Across Racial Groups in B.C. Technical Report

Systemic racism has and continues to impact the delivery of government programs and services in British Columbia (B.C.). To guide anti-racism research in the province, the B.C. government announced 10 anti-racism research priorities in 2023, with systemic racism in B.C.'s education system identified as one of them. This report describes progress made in an initial, preliminary phase of anti-racism research that aims to understand how students with special needs across racial groups are designated for education supports in the B.C. K-12 public education system. This research uses data from the BC Demographic Survey, which was conducted in 2023 and examined designation rates among students whose racial identity information was available through the BC Demographic Survey and who were enrolled in a B.C. school at any point over the past 10 years. Researchers found that special education funding designation rates varied across student racial identity groups, varied within special education funding designations, and that gifted designations also varied by racial identity. Findings can be used as a starting point for discussion and engagement with communities, education system partners, school districts and families and to guide further research into the systemic barriers faced by racialized students in B.C.