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19
Mar
Local parents angry over rising costs of new school transport policy
Two local parents have expressed concerns over the impacts of North Yorkshire Council's new home-to-school transport policy.
The Conservative-led authority last year approved plans to only cover the cost of transport to a child’s nearest school, rather than using a catchment system.
Catchment is still used for school admissions, but those who choose to send their children to a catchment school, rather than the nearest school, will be left to foot the bill of a bus pass.
Kirk Hammerton mother Charlotte Poran said her family will be affected by the changes.
Charlotte enrolled her eldest child at Boroughbridge High School two years ago because she felt the school was the best fit for him and there is a bus from Kirk Hammerton to school.
But she said the process of trying to find a suitable secondary school for their younger daughter has been “very stressful”.
In an email, seen by the Stray Ferret, to Cllr Arnold Warneken, a Green who represents the Ouseburn division, she said:
This change has brought to our attention that Boroughbridge High School is our fifth closest secondary school and, as such, my daughter is very unlikely to be offered free transport to go to her catchment school. This is in spite of the fact that a bus is going there anyway with her brother on.
Of the four closer schools, only one with current transport - King James’s School in Knaresborough - is within North Yorkshire Council, the other three are in West Yorkshire or York.
Charlotte added she has selected the catchment school – Boroughbridge High School – as her daughter’s first choice, but it is likely she won't be eligible for free home-to-school transport.
If her daughter is given a place at the school and takes the bus, she will have to pay around £800 for a bus pass, Charlotte says.
Driving her daughter to-and-from a school would make it “impossible” for Charlotte to work a traditional 9-5 job, she said, adding she feels the new policy will "fragment communities" .
She added:
This seems to be a money-making scheme - charging me to allow my daughter to get on a bus which is going anyway to get to her catchment school - rather than money-saving as they keep repeating, whilst showing no evidence of any savings.
Boroughbridge High School.
New policy ‘discriminates against rural communities’
Tockwith mother Kate Helme already has one daughter at Tadcaster Grammar School and another is due to start secondary school in September.
In an email to Cllr Warneken, also seen by the Stray Ferret, Kate said:
As you can imagine, we applied for Tadcaster Grammar school for our eldest because this was our catchment school - we were happy with the school and there is a school bus which would allow our daughter to travel independently to and from school (we both work).
Unbeknownst to us, we have then been completely blindsided by a new policy from North Yorkshire Council, which changed the availability not just of free transport but of transport to school generally.
Kate said under the new policy, Tadcaster Grammar is listed fifth out of the seven schools nearest to Tockwith, with King James’s in Knaresborough – around nine miles from the village – not even making the list.
She said six of those seven schools fall outside of North Yorkshire Council’s boundary and are governed by other local authorities.
“I cannot get my head around this. The council should be supporting its local schools and instead are actively encouraging families to go to schools in other local authority areas – taking away funding for local schools – and paying for people to travel there”, Kate said.
Kate feels the policy is relying on “crude calculation of distance”. She added:
As a working family, there is no way I could have children at two different schools - I struggle to manage lifts from out of school clubs now and would never logistically be able to pick up from two different schools. It would also mean managing term dates from two different local authorities.
There is currently no school transport to our nearest school in Wetherby, so presumably the council will be paying for this additional route.
The new policy could eventually leave Kate with a £2,100 bus pass bill if all three of her children went to their catchment school, she claims, adding the policy “discriminates again rural communities” without access to public transport.
Cllr Annabel Wilkinson.
Policy changes will be ‘fair, responsible and affordable’
The Stray Ferret put the mothers’ concerns to North Yorkshire Council.
We asked if the authority would still cover the cost of transport to the nearest school even if it is governed by another local authority.
In response to that enquiry, a council spokesperson said:
If children live in North Yorkshire and are assessed as being eligible for assistance with home to school travel, then the cost of that assistance is met by North Yorkshire Council irrespective of where their school is.
The Stray Ferret also asked what the council says in response to parents unable to juggle having children at different secondary schools, especially those who work.
Amanda Newbold, the authority’s assistant director for inclusion, said:
Parents and carers still have a choice as to where to send their children. It is important for them to now factor in travel costs if they choose a school that is not their nearest.
We recognise the potential impact caused to families who have children with eligibility for assistance with home to school travel to different schools. Councillors therefore decided that the policy will be implemented over a phased period than with immediate effect.
The Stray Ferret asked the council if parents who already receive transport assistance would have to start paying for home-to-school travel, despite enrolling their children into catchment schools before the changes came into play.
The spokesperson said parents "would not lose their travel assistance provision under the former policy unless there was/will be a change in circumstances, such as moving house, from last September that would require eligibility to re-assessed".
The Stray Ferret also asked for the council to respond to claims the new policy is a money-making scheme and discriminates against rural communities.
Amanda Newbold said:
The changes are designed to make our home to school transport policy fair to all families, responsible and affordable.
We are seeing rising costs in the provision of home to school transport, and we needed to bring the policy in line with revised guidance from the Department for Education to ensure it and other essential frontline services are sustainable.
Providing school transport has become the third-largest expenditure for us at £51 million a year and has more than doubled since 2018/19 when the policy was previously reviewed.
Discretionary powers have been extended for the eligibility of travel assistance for secondary age pupils from low-income families. This is to reflect the rural context of the county and ensure low-income families in rural areas are supported.
Calls for urgent meeting
The news comes after Liberal Democrat councillors urged the authority’s chair to authorise an urgent meeting amid warnings the council could face a legal challenge over the new policy.
Cllr Bryn Griffiths, leader of the Lib Dems group on the council, previously said the meeting would “resolve the crisis that is the home-to-school transport policy” and the authority cannot wait until the next full council meeting in May.
“There is too much at stake”, Cllr Griffiths said at the time.
Cllr Roberta Swiers, chair of the council, previously told the Local Democracy Reporting Service she was “not surprised” she’d been asked to call the meeting.
A decision has not yet been made.
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