Tough decision on denominational transport
Parents whose kids receive free school transport on faith grounds are angered at County plans to charge the same as other pupils…
It’s tough because it is always difficult to start charging for something which has historically been free. But is it fair that in Staffordshire if you attend a Catholic or C of E Collegiate School on faith grounds you get for free what other children have to pay for?
Staffordshire, like every other part of the UK, must make its contribution towards paying down the massive national debt and so we are looking at ways to find £70million annual cost reductions by 2012 whilst maintaining our determination to keep council tax rises to inflation or lower.
And two of the fundamental values in our Manifesto last June were fairness and equity. That’s why from an equitable point of view this needs addressing. Over 15,000 youngsters get transported to school each day because they either live more than walking distance from their catchment school or choose to go to a different one.
Unless from a family on low income or outside the catchment walking distance everyone pays for their school bus seat if they want one. Not the same, however, for the students going to faith schools on religious belief grounds who travel for free. Faith schools and the choice they bring are important and should be supported but the £1.3million annual cost to Staffordshire council tax payers for those 1800 youngsters who receive free travel is not equitable to all or fair.
So we propose to level the playing field after the many years of dithering by the previous County administration around this and alongside the other authorities that have already taken a similar view.
It’s a serious and, some say, controversial proposal which discriminates against the Catholic Faith. Controversial it might be but discriminatory it’s not. The current rules benefit one group of pupils over others and I’ve thought long and hard about the fact that even if I were still in opposition I’d have great difficulty arguing against this change. But there is a big campaign starting to leave things as they are.
A major consultation was launched by the County a few weeks ago on this issue and whether a council tax payer, you pay for your child’s seat already or you are someone affected directly by these proposals you can have your say at the consultation web page or write to the County with your views by 25th June.
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9 comments
I’m utterly astounded that this situation is allowed to continue in 2010. Get on and make the changes. Religious grounds is no raeson for special treatment!
My son goes to one of the schools in question because we felt it was an excellent school but not in our allocated education area. We pay for his transport because we made that choice. I do find it very difficult to stomach the fact that others sitting around him on the daily journey don’t pay on religious grounds. I know many other parents who also pay and also feel the current arrangements as they stand are very unfair and outdated. The proposed changes are long overdue and I congratulate Staffordsire County Council for grasping what I suspect will be a very painful nettle. By the way, I’d no idea it was costing council tax payers as much as £1.3 million and suspect most don’t.
Everybody seems to be missing the point that Catholic (and C of E) schools pay 10% of the capital costs of schools so are funding the schools very highly – much more than it costs to transport the children to or from school so if the faith element was removed, then it would cost the council more. Further still, Staffordshire Council might be paying for the transport but they are not paying for the school place. Transport = £390, School place = over £2000. Which is more expensive – the transport or the school place. So if 1500 children have to come back to Staffordshire (eg those who go to schools in Derbyshire and Walsall) then Staffordshire Council will end up paying over 5 times more for each child’s education. That’s not a saving. Also faith schools are proven to be better than ordinary secondary schools and therefore there is a lot to be learned from faith schools. If you don’t want to send your child to a faith school, then you have that choice, but at least allow those people who do want to send their children to a faith school to do so. A sensible alternative to the transport costs would of course be to build more faith schools in the locality – but I bet the council won’t pay for that – so the alternative is the cheaper option which is to pay for the transport.
Mathew
I have written to you separately on this issue. I live in your division and am also chair of governors at a small Catholic primary school in Tamworth. Hardly surprisingly, I don’t support these proposals, but I’m moved to post here because I think your central case – that the proposal is about equity and fairness – is entirely incorrect. Posters above may not know how complex the financing of voluntary aided schools is, so to keep it brief, the Catholic community (or, in other counties, any faith community supporting VA schools) already makes a 10% contribution to the capital costs of its schools and the governors of those schools are in addition liable to pay irrecoverable VAT on all their expenditure. And these are to all intents and purposes state schools within a religious setting.
Most (or all?) village schools in your division are C of E controlled schools – they do not pay the 10% contribution to capital and benefit from the LA’s VAT status. Being local, transport costs are obviously low.
If transport costs are now included, the net cost to a Catholic family of receiving what is in effect a state education in a Catholic setting will be significantly higher than their C of E neighbours. And I make this point with no ill feeling towards my C of E friends – merely to point out that “equity” needs to be seen in the round. Catholics cannot help being a dispersed community and already contribute very significant amounts to the costs of Catholic state education.
Thanks for the latter comments. I will ensure these points are raised with the appropriate colleagues although I’m sure you will have already done that anyway.
Money is, of course, part of this and everything else for that matter, particularly in the foreseeable future with the economic challenges we face. The growth in the older population, particularly in Staffordshire, is also very large over the next fifteen years and something which appears to have been missed entirely over many years by the previous Administration. That means extraordinary pressure on my Department’s budget now and going forwards.
The County has pledged to find annual savings of around 70million by 2012 to contribute to the national paydown. But we still intend to follow our first year’s lowest ever council tax rise with similarly minimal rises going forwards.
The principles we have adopted are to look initially at where we can make efficiencies internally to the County by way of service redesign, next to look at where there are inequitable practices (not withstanding your very balanced comments) and then where we can trim back services in a way which minimises impact on users.
So, your comments are well made but the scale of the job ahead is truly enormous. Thank you again and, as I have said privately, I’m happy to speak.
Hi Matthew,
A tough choice but one I agree with. Free school transport should only be in place when a child attends a school in catchment but outside of the expected walking distance. If parents choose to send their child to a school out of their catchment then they MUST meet the extra costs involved.
This isn’t an issue about faith schools but about equality and fairness.
What does anger me is that some parents do indeed pay for their school buses, when others pull the faith card and get away with paying nothing.
The quicker this inequaity is stopped the better.
CHILDREN!!! Don’t forget the children, for those youngsters already at a fatih High School, especially those in years 7 and 8 these proposals will force these young people to have to move school at a most important time of their schooling!!! Parents have made enquires regarding placement at local catchment schools to find there are no places!! Parents will then have to drive children across towns every morning and afternoon adding to the congestion on roads, I thought this government was looking for a ‘greener’ britain. These proposals will force more cars onto the roads within local towns or travelling to the nearest faith high school.
If all children went to state schools, it would cost the state more as continually overlooked is the fact that faith schools purchase their own land and pay 10% of capital costs. This by far out weighs the cost in transporting these children to school. David Cameron supports faith schools, his daughter goes to a faith school. quote “The biggest expansion of fatih schools since the 19th century would be encouraged by a Tory government” . You might save some money for Staffordshire CC but in the long run you will be costing the government and the tax payer more if you continue with these proposals. You should not be messing with the education of these youngsters, IS THAT FAIR???
I would agree that it was unfair for transport to be paid for , for any child if it was unnesassary. If your catchment provided you with the school of the childs individual needs then you should use that School. Tamworth has five very good high schools, all have there own strenghts. As a Catholic family we have been very lucky to have the choice of two primary schools which have been an excellent start to my childrens education. We love the fact that there is a Catholic high school for the children to grow with there faith. The only down side is that there isnt one in Tamworth our nearest Catholic high school, St Francis of Asisi is in Aldridge. This has been the feeder school for 40 years. It was a purpose built Catholic school to serve its local catchment and also Lichfield and Tamworth children.My Daughter travels a 28 mile round trip to school and leaves at 07.45 and returns home at 16.30 every day. Now for this to be fair to my child as we compare to none faith children, the fairest thing would be for Catholics to have a local a Catholic school. Then we wouldnt need to be transported 14 miles away to our nearest Catholic high school. I find it very difficult to understand how the Staffordshire council promoted the fact that Catholic children are getting something that none faith children are not getting. None faith children have five local schools they can walk,or cylce how lovely would that be. Staffordshire council have always paid to transport the children , rather than open a faith school in the catchment. I think this hilites how Catholic children have neen shiped out and taken for granted for 40 years. How fair and equitable is that.
I would like to comment some of the issues surrounding the transport that our Catholic children receive. Staffordshire County Council is saying ‘why should the Catholic kids get free buses, they are choosing to go all the way to Aldridge, let them pay, it’s only fair’. This is wrong on so many levels.
When St Francis was built in 1969 it was originally in Staffordshire. It was intended to be the secondary school for the two Catholic primary schools, (feeder schools), St Gabriel’s and St Elizabeth’s. Boundaries have since moved and St Francis is now in Walsall. For more than 40 years this has been the natural progression through school for our kids, until now. Staffordshire County Council has decided out of the blue, with no surveys, reports or evidence to remove the funding and, what is worse, the transport completely. Is that fair?
It believes it is unfair to the non-Catholic child who chooses St Francis for their secondary education. This child is required to pay as it is not their nearest suitable school and I believe that the parents are well aware of this when they choose to go there. It is outside their catchment area therefore they need to pay for the transport. Tamworth has five other high schools, lots of choice for parents except Catholic children. St Francis is in our nearest suitable school, we are attending the feeder schools, we are not making a choice, there is no choice. We are being penalised for attending our nearest suitable secondary school. Is that fair?
If I lived in Drayton Bassett and wanted to go Rawletts High school, a distance of about five miles, Staffordshire County Council would pay for my transport, but if I wanted to go to St Francis, about nine miles, then they would charge me. Is this fair? The transport for rural areas remains unchanged, only catholic transport is being cut. Is that fair?
The most harmful detail in the proposals is the removal of the transport completely in 2015, turning a simple 40-minute bus journey into an impossible three-bus, 2 and half hour journey twice a day, an accident waiting to happen. An 11-year-old cannot be expected to undertake a journey like this every day, twice a day. Is that fair?
Staffordshire County Council, you are making the wrong decision here and you will be jeopardising the education of over 200 families Tamworth. Is that fair?
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