Increased transport grants sought for children with disabilities

FAMILIES of children with disabilities should receive more State funding for school transport, an independent body has recommended.

The Department of Education is to undertake a review of grants paid to such families after the suggestion from the School Transport Appeals Board.

The board was set up in January to decide cases where families were unhappy with the department’s rulings on their applications.

In one case decided last month, the board considered the case of a Dublin family who sought an increase in the grant they receive for a child with special needs. The grant is payable to fund private transport to school where a school bus or other arrangements can not be provided.

While the amount paid in each case depends on the distance involved, the Department of Education rejected the family’s appeal because they were receiving the maximum payment available.

The board upheld that decision but recommended that the grant rates be reviewed, a matter now being considered by department officials.

The school transport scheme carries more than 130,000 children every day during the academic year on around 5,750 routes. However, because the catchment areas for schools were set up around 30 years ago, many families have to pay hundreds of euro a year for bus services to bring their children to and from school.

At their first meeting last month, the board upheld the department decision in relation to all four appeals received this year. A group of seven families in the north east who sought a reduced fare for use of the school bus service appealed the Department of Education’s rejection of their application. The appeals board upheld that decision, which was made because the children were not attending the school nearest them.

The board also upheld the department’s refusal of a request for transport for 31 children in the South East because they were not eligible under the terms of the school transport scheme.

The final case, of a family in the south east who requested their child be collected from home, was also refused by the department and their decision was upheld by the appeals board.

The board includes retired officials of the Department of Education and Bus Éireann and a former chief executive of Co Kerry VEC.