School transport appeals increase 500% in four years

THE number of appeals against decisions on school transport access has increased by more than 500% in just four years, according to Department of Education figures.

The 96 appeals heard this year to date — with five more due to be heard this month — is relatively small in the context of 125,000 children carried to school every day under the e180-million-a-year school transport scheme. But it compares to just 15 cases heard in 2007, and an average 30 per year from 2004 to 2006.

The cases considered so far this year by the School Transport Appeals Board related to bus and other travel arrangements to 60 schools.

They include the unsuccessful appeals brought by the families of 10 pupils at Fermoy Adair National School in Co Cork who were denied a bus service after the summer holidays because Bus Éireann, which operates the system for the Department of Education, determined they did not live in a “distinct locality”.

While they have been offered the option of applying for transport grants to cover the cost of making their own way to school, parents and principal Heather Smith have said the decision discriminates against the right of parents to send their children to the nearest Church of Ireland school, with some living more than 16km from the school.

Figures included in a value-for-money review of the school transport system earlier this year show there were 41 appeals in 2008 and 75 in 2009, with figures obtained from the Department of Education showing there were 76 last year.

The review suggests the spike in 2009 was largely due to rising numbers unhappy about decisions relating to transport to special schools, with increasing numbers also referring cases where rules on the distance between home and school affected their access.

But other changes to the school transport rules imposed in the past year may also be a factor, with hundreds of pupils deemed ineligible for a service to schools in areas affected by changes to rules introduced after the closure of many rural primary schools in the 1970s.

Only 20 of the 240 appeals considered by the board between its establishment in 2003 and 2009 have been successful.

The rate of success has diminished in recent years, with only four of last year’s 76 appeals upheld and two successful out of the 96 heard so far this year.