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Mike Brown’s children were hitchhiking to school after their bus route to Tamatea High School was cancelled. His daughter has now found a ride but his son hasn’t.
The Ministry of Education won’t provide transport or an allowance because it says the children’s high school isn’t the closest state school to Brown’s home.
Brown seeks government action, highlighting the issue of rural school transport eligibility and distance measurement methods.
But Mike Brown says his son Chamon, 15, will be continuing to hitchhike 45km to Tamatea High School from State Highway 2, the Napier-Wairoa Rd, because no obvious solution has been found.
Brown got the attention of the country, and the Prime Minister, when he resorted to the controversial method of getting his kids to class this week after a rural bus service from Aropaoanui to Napier was cut at the end in 2024.
Brown wants his children to continue to travel to Tamatea High School’s te reo Māori immersion programme, but the ministry told him multiple times it could no longer provide a bus, or a travel allowance, as it is not the closest state or state-integrated school to his home.
The distance between the closest school to Brown’s house for Chamon, William Colenso College, and Tamatea High School is less than a kilometre longer, and depending on the route taken, could even be less.
Education Minister Erica Stanford said on Wednesday the family had chosen not to attend their local education provider and “that is their decision”.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon confirmed he was aware of children hitchhiking to get to school.
Chamon Teria Brown, 15 (left), and sister Laa Jordan Brown, 16, hitchhiking to Tamatea High School from SH2 after their school bus route was terminated at the end of 2024.
On Thursday, Brown told Hawke’s Bay Today he was glad politicians were having a robust conversation about the matter.
“That’s where I wanted it to end up so they can debate the matter,” he said.
“I don’t mind if people call me an irresponsible father but that’s the goal I set - to get it to Parliament so they can debate it.”
Brown confirmed his daughter Laa, 16, had befriended a nearby family who could take her to and from school each day, but his son Chamon, 15, was still hitching a ride along State Highway 2.
“The family only had room for Laa, but not Chamon unfortunately,” he said.
Brown said he would continue having his son thumb a ride to and from school each day until he got “a bit of action from the Government”.
Brown said he had received plenty of comments from people wanting to help, but no one could provide a regular return ride for his son.
“But something might pop up soon, hopefully,” he said.
“He doesn’t really like hitchhiking, which is fair enough.”
Brown said he was struggling to see how the Ministry of Education could say that William Colenso College was the closest school to him when Google Maps told him otherwise.
“I looked up the route, it’s exactly 45k to both schools and it’s actually quicker to go to Tamatea in time by about two minutes,” he says.
Google Maps says it is 51 minutes and 44.6km from Brown’s property to Tamatea High School, and 53 minutes and 45.0km to William Colenso College.
Despite the transport issues, Brown says his kids are receiving a great education at Tamatea High School and the school is doing an “excellent job”.
“They ring me every day and keep me updated on the kids.
“Nobody from the ministry has called me yet.”
James Meffan, group manager school transport at the Ministry of Education, said the ministry does not use Google Maps to measure distance for school transport eligibility.
“The mapping software we use, ArcGIS, is an internationally recognised specialist software that is used for accurate mapping and geospatial planning activities,” he said.
Meffan said the Ministry had not requested Brown send his children to William Colenso College, as caregivers have the right to choose where to enrol their children.
“However, the eligibility criteria for school transport assistance are intended to ensure the ongoing viability and integrity of local schooling networks by supporting students to attend their closest school,” he said.
“This helps to prevent inefficiencies in the network due to excess demand at some schools and surplus capacity at others.”
Meffan said there were now no ministry-funded school bus routes along SH2 Napier-Wairoa Rd. If Brown’s children were to transfer to mixed-gender William Colenso College, or Laa to the all-girls Sacred Heart College, they would be entitled to a conveyance allowance.
Jack Riddell is a multimedia journalist with Hawke’s Bay Today and spent the last 15 years working in radio and media in Auckland, London, Berlin, and Napier. He reports on all stories relevant to residents of the region.
