As part of our role leading the A Right to Learn campaign, QAI commissioned an analysis of the economic impacts of suspending students with disability from school.
Our key findings were:
- In 2023, Queensland disabled students were denied over 107,000 days of education due to suspensions.
- Disabled students are twice as likely to be suspended compared to their peers. If you’re a kid with disability in Queensland you have a 1 in 4 chance of being suspended.
- In one year, about 3,000 Queensland kids with disability will miss out on completing year 12 because of suspensions. These students then go on to experience an income gap, costing $41 million in lost income each year.
- Parents and carers of students with disability suspended from school miss up to 76,000 days of work each year, costing $14 million of lost income to these families.
- Suspensions are expensive: 440 664 teacher hours are spent managing student behaviour at a cost of $20.1 million per year.
- Up to 300 disabled students will be incarcerated after school suspensions before they turn 18. Disabled students who have been suspended cost taxpayers between $5.5 – $10 million in youth justice costs each year.
These are alarming statistics that emphasise the need for alternatives to school suspensions. These students need support, not punishment.
Read the findings summary and full analysis via the links below.