Planner defends proposed changes for school buses

A contentious plan which would restrict school bus use by some students has been defended by a woman who helped develop the proposal.

The Government wants to make students who attend schools other than their nearest to arrange their own transport for part of the way.

But parents and principals in remote areas fear such a move would force such children to change schools.

Ministry of Education senior manager of resourcing Kim Shannon, who helped draw up the plan, said some schools had complained to the ministry that more distant schools were "taking away kids".

Schools using direct resourcing - where schools organise their own bus runs - can extend routes into neighbouring school catchment areas.

However, Ms Shannon said when researching the policy, she and her team were surprised to find a high number of schools were extending their bus routes and some felt they were losing students to other schools.

Also, for a number of years bus operators had complained to the Ministry of Education about schools not having enough money to pay bus operators' increasing overheads, such as fuel and maintenance costs.

This has been backed up by Bus and Coach Association executive director John Collyns, who supported the policy change in principle.

Ms Shannon said allowing students to attend a more distant school conflicted with Government policy that all schools should provide the same quality education.

"Parents can choose to send them [their children] to the school of their choice ... The issue is whether the Government funds that choice."

Under the plan, students will have to travel to the "mid-point" - halfway between the nearest school and the school the student attends - before they can catch a bus.

"A lot of people are assuming their children are going to miss out but we just don't know [yet]," Ms Shannon said.

- NZPA