Committee parliamentary procedures allow members who do not agree with the majority position on Motions to submit a Minority Report.  Minority Reports are usually related to the process or content of the annual Special Education Plan or Special Education Budget.  There is a lot of confusion and misunderstanding about Minority Reports, how to write them, how to present them and what happens afterwards.  PAAC on SEAC recommends that SEAC training sessions and the school board SEAC Orientation Manual include information about Minority Reports.

Table 9: Sample Minority Report

RE: Motion from the Special Education Advisory Committee of the District School Board dated _________ that said:

“Be it Resolved that the Special Education Advisory Committee recommends that………”
The following members of SEAC disagree with this motion and have filed a Minority Report to provide a record of their disagreement with the motion:

Name of Representative         Name of Provincial Organization

Name of Representative         Name of Provincial Organization

Name of Representative         Name of Provincial Organization
The above disagree with the motion for the following reasons:  (these are just examples)

  1. Range of placements not adequate for exceptional students identified as…….
  2. Number of professional staff inadequate to meet needs.  Specifically, …..
  3. Unqualified staff being used inappropriately to develop and implement programming which should only be developed by a Professional based on an assessment of needs. For example, …..
  4. Special education budget inadequate to provide adequate numbers of special education teachers or staff for……

In conclusion, we ask the Board of Trustees to consider these issues carefully and to:
–  do the following…….. (not approve the plan, reconsider the budget, etc)
Signed by:

Name                                      Signature: _______________________

Name                                      Signature: _______________________

Name                                      Signature: _______________________
Date: Day Month Year
Provide Copies to:

  • Chair of SEAC
  • SEAC Members
  • President or Executive Director of Local and/or Provincial Parent Association

Effective practices related to Minority Reports include:

  • Information about Minority Reports in SEAC training and school board SEAC orientation manual (See Table 9 for sample template for Minority Reports).
  • A template for Minority Reports in the school board SEAC Orientation Manual.
  • Development of a school board protocol for submitting Minority Reports and sharing them with Trustees. Protocol should include sharing copies of Minority Reports with all SEAC members.
  • Development of a school board process to share with SEAC the outcome of presenting the SEAC Motion and related Minority Reports to the Trustees.
  • Development of a SEAC process to document past Minority Reports for consideration at future meetings and as part of annual planning.
  • Development by provincial and local parent association of guidelines regarding the form and development of Minority Reports, to include as part of their SEAC resources and during SEAC orientation and training sessions.