Western Australian children with type 1 diabetes are losing automatic school support after Year 2, forcing families and schools to navigate a case-by-case funding extension process that parents and the opposition say is unsafe and outdated. Alana Marshall, mother of eight-year-old Declan, has joined Opposition Education Minister Liam Staltari in launching a petition calling for the state government to scrap the age cut-off.
Declan Marshall was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at age five and wears an insulin pump and glucose monitor. His mother Alana said managing the condition is “a constant balancing act” that is made harder by a school funding rule that automatically provides Individual Disability Allocation funding only until the end of Year 2. After that, parents and schools must apply to keep the support, based on the assumption that students can manage their own condition.
“Expecting an eight-year-old to shoulder that responsibility alone, particularly while in a busy school environment full of demands and distractions, is simply not safe, fair or reasonable,” Alana said.
Declan said he sometimes has to stop playing and sit out because his blood sugar is low, and that teachers “don’t know as much about it as my mum and dad.”
Alana said the funding policy was based on clinical guidance from Princess Margaret Hospital given more than 10 years ago and was outdated. She said the application process itself was time-consuming: she spent weeks obtaining a letter from an endocrinologist, and the school’s deputy principal researched and submitted the application.
Opposition Education Minister Liam Staltari said type 1 diabetes “doesn’t get easier to manage between year 2 and year 3 – it’s lifelong and incurable.” He said continuous glucose monitors and insulin pumps had transformed management, but department rules had not caught up. “In the wealthiest state in the nation, no child should be left to manage a life-threatening condition alone in class,” he said.
Education Minister Sabine Winton said she had asked the Department of Education for further advice on the extension process and how schools support families. “While Individual Disability Allocation funding for diabetes is generally provided until the end of Year 2, that support does not stop if a child still needs it,” she said. She accused Staltari of using the issue as a “political stunt” in parliament, stating that the correct process is “not as part of a stunt in the public gallery.”
Analysis
Why This Matters
- Children with type 1 diabetes may lack consistent trained support at school, risking severe hypoglycaemia or diabetic ketoacidosis.
- The funding policy is based on decade-old clinical guidelines, not current diabetes management technology.
- The application process places additional burden on parents, teachers, and school administrators, creating inequity between schools that know about the extension and those that do not.
Background
Western Australia's Individual Disability Allocation funding provides schools with resources, including education assistants, to support students with type 1 diabetes. The funding is automatically provided until the end of Year 2 (around age 8), after which families must apply for an extension on a case-by-case basis. The policy assumes that by Year 3 students can manage their condition independently, but parents and medical experts say continuous glucose monitors and insulin pumps do not eliminate the need for adult supervision, especially in busy school environments. The opposition has raised the issue in parliament, and a petition is underway.
Key Perspectives
Parents and Opposition: Alana Marshall and Opposition Education Minister Liam Staltari argue the age cut-off is unsafe, unfair, and based on outdated clinical guidance. They seek to scrap the automatic cut-off and replace it with a needs-based model that does not assume children can self-manage at a fixed age.
Education Minister Sabine Winton: She maintains that support does not stop when funding ends if the child still needs it, and has asked for further advice on the process. She also criticised the opposition for what she called a “political stunt” rather than following proper channels.
School Communities: Alana noted that many schools are unaware they can apply for funding extensions, and that the application process creates additional workload for teachers and administrators.
What to Watch
- The petition launched by Alana Marshall and Liam Staltari, and whether it gains enough traction to force a policy review.
- Further advice from the Department of Education to Minister Winton on the extension process and how to better support families.
- Potential for the opposition to pursue the issue in parliament or through media campaigns ahead of the next state election.