By LACHLAN MOORHEAD
A NARRE Warren South mother says last year’s State Government decision to cut the school transport conveyance allowance has badly impacted her family.
And it would only get worse, Jenny Cuffe said, describing the impact of the cuts as an “insidious creep”.
The allowance covers students who are unable to access a free school bus, and applies to public transport, private buses and cars.
Ms Cuffe’s children attend St Francis Xavier College in Berwick.
“The cost impact is an insidious creep unfortunately,” she said.
“It’s when you get a really big hit that everyone goes ‘oh wow’, but this is slow, over the next couple of years.”
Ms Cuff said the cuts to the allowance funding, which is used to subsidise the cost of student travel, would lead to the loss of school buses.
“I can’t see it being fixed – the alternative is that we’ll slowly lose our bus,” she said.
“The bottom line is people will have to opt out.”
Shadow Minister for Education James Merlino, who met with Ms Cuffe this week, said families from the outer suburbs were among the worst affected by the allowance cuts.
“Communities in newly established areas like Berwick and in regional and remote communities have been hit the hardest by these cuts,” Mr Merlino said.
Mr Merlino also said it was unfair that students from a Mornington-based school had been exempted from the allowance cuts and were being permitted to travel without charge, with their older siblings.
The Opposition claims these students are being exempted from the cuts under a grandfather clause.
“Students at St Francis Xavier College no longer receive subsided public transport, whilst a school in Education Minister Martin Dixon’s local area has been exempted,” Mr Merlino said.
“Minister Dixon can obviously see that changes to the allowance are harsh and impacting on families that go to school in his local area, but what about students and families that are struggling in other parts of the state?”
A spokesperson for Education Minister Martin Dixon has denied that the Minister intervened with the eligibility of students and their siblings for the conveyance allowance.
“The Department’s school transport policy has remained unchanged since 2012,” the spokesperson said.
“There has been no specific or blanket ministerial intervention with regards to siblings of students who are eligible for student transport.”
