School bus services face cuts

Press, 15 February 1986, Page 2

School bus services face cuts

School bus services in Canterbury and Westland may be cut in the second term.

The Education Department has sent a directive to the Canterbury Education Board that all bus services costing more than $5.90 a child a day should be cut to the point where they cost that amount.

The amount is equivalent to the boarding bursary, paid to rural children who attend boarding school. Cuts in the services may mean that some children at the end of school runs will not be delivered to and from school by the buses. The move has resulted from the Government’s decision not to charge school bus users. While the directive said that services should be cut from the first term, the board will not know exactly which services are running above budget until the end of the first term. Figures from last year suggest that five of the board’s 288 daily runs may cost too much. The five services affected are Jacobs River, Haast, Kirwee-Halkett, Runanga, and Windwhistle. The board has been given permission to run the Jacobs River service above budget for the rest of the year, and the Haast service for the rest of the term. _______

Two of the other services, Kirwee-Halkett and Runanga, have to be cut only a few kilometres, possibly affecting only one family in each case. However, the Windwhistle service would have to be shortened more than 40km to run within the required cost, affecting at least seven children. At the board’s meeting yesterday, members said they were worried about the cuts’ effects. Mr Harold Stone said it would mean several children would have to start correspondence lessons, as they would no longer be able to attend school. “The children will be disadvantaged because those parents are not in a position to give the children proper correspondence education.” Mrs Gay Menzies said the only alternative open to the Education Department was to reopen some of the smaller schools. “That is going to cost the department much more money,” she said. Mr Stone said it was Impossible to comply with the directive until the second term, because the cost of each service would not be known until then. The board will send a letter to the Minister of Education and the Education Boards’ Association protesting against the move.