Text of letter sent out:
11 October 2011
Dear Parent
CHANGES TO HOME TO SCHOOL TRANSPORT - SEPTEMBER 2012
I am writing to you as the parent of a pupil in year 6 in Buckinghamshire about possible home to school transport changes that could affect your child.
As you may know, the County Council’s policy for paying for home to school transport has been more generous than the statutory requirement in the past. In the current financial climate, we can no longer afford such an approach. We therefore want to develop new arrangements which enable us to meet our statutory responsibilities and which are cost effective and fair to parents and council tax payers across the county.
We undertook an initial consultation on our home to school transport policy earlier this year and since that time we have been in discussion with parents and schools about how we can develop a fair model for charging. We are still considering the feedback we received during that process and will undertake a further consultation on detailed proposals later this year.
Whilst we cannot yet provide details of the specific proposals, the changes may involve charging a much larger group of parents for transport than is currently the case.
If you are considering applying to a school that is further away than your closest secondary school, please be aware that there is a possibility that you may need to contribute to the costs of transporting your child to that school from September 2012. (Those pupils who are eligible for free school meals will continue to receive free home to school transport.)
We will write to you later in the year to give you full details of the proposals, the consultation process and how you can take part.
For further information, please visit our website at
http://www.buckscc.gov.uk/schooltransport" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.
Should you need to contact us with a specific enquiry, please contact
schooltransport@buckscc.gov.uk.