Consider the societal cost of cuts to home-to-school transport
When it comes to home-to-school transport, it should not be treated as anything other than a key priority. But with budgets tightening there has been a worrying retreat from councils towards statutory minimum provision.
Nowhere is the impact of changes to home-to-school transport being felt more acutely than in North Yorkshire.
Families in rural parts of the county now find their children either being sent to a different school than the one they would have expected them to attend.
This has meant children going on dangerous, ungritted roads over the tops of the Yorkshire Dales in winter or forsaking their free buses to school.
It has got to a point where families are even contemplating upping sticks and moving away. When rural towns and villages are facing a demographic time bomb, forcing young families out is only going to make matters worse. A lot of rural areas are already becoming seasonal ghost towns, frequented by second home owners.
Yesterday’s debate in Parliament illustrated why the Government must get a grip of school transport.
Local authorities up and down the country are facing spiralling costs when it comes to school transport. It is absurd that the Department for Education does not know whether spending is achieving value for money. There is clearly a need to gather better data.
However, one thing is clear and that is the sentiment of parents. The protests seen across North Yorkshire show that the policy is not working for them.
These families are to be applauded because they understand the cost of gaps in education. Even a few days of missed school can set a child back.
Councils may point to savings they have made but there is a societal cost that needs to be considered.