Transport company De Lijn has sent an email to school boards warning of possible adjustments to student transport. De Lijn points to rising costs without budget increases. “Without adjustment, the budget for student transport will be exceeded by 10 million euros,” responds Flemish Minister of Mobility Annick De Ridder (N-VA).
Source: Belga
In the letter, De Lijn states that the Flemish government wants to reform student transport in order to reduce the journey time for all children. “In the meantime, De Lijn was instructed to bring the student transport offering more in line with the available budgetary envelope in the short term,” it can be read.
De Lijn is therefore starting a “thorough exercise” to draw up a new schedule that “fits within the budget”. The schools themselves and the subcontractors or operators with whom De Lijn collaborates must also participate in this exercise.
“Education provides the necessary bus guidance, the operators provide the vehicles and drivers. Both in turn will have to re-examine the services.” At the end of June, De Lijn will be able to provide schools with clarity about the new planning.
Opposition sharp
“The Flemish government is again at its most antisocial,” responds Kim Buyst of Groen. “Children who use student transport are students with additional care needs in special education. The fact that the Flemish government does not adjust the budget for these children to the needs that exist affects me as a mother and as a former teacher.”
“Minister of Education Zuhal Demir and Minister of Mobility Annick De Ridder clearly have no idea what they are actually doing to these children,” she says. She asks for more investment and for rapid reform.
She also emphasizes the importance of after-school and extra-curricular care, which is less available in schools for special education. “Care before and after school hours is crucial to create some flexibility for parents. This way, the long bus ride would no longer be the only option for many parents, because it is now impossible for them to be at the school gate at a quarter past three.”
Demir not informed
“We were not aware of this demarche by De Lijn in advance,” says Minister of Education Zuhal Demir (N-VA). “We are not going to respond to that now.”
Normally it is not Demir who is responsible for student transport, but the Minister of Mobility. In Flanders this is Annick De Ridder (N-VA). But the budget for student transport will be transferred from the Mobility domain to Education during this legislature.
Majority party Vooruit is concerned about the file. Member of Parliament Gianna Werbrouck has ready a concept note. “Just like the Children’s Rights Commissioner, I want to extend the right to bus transport more broadly,” she says, among other things. “Because what good is that right if, in practice, it means that your child sits on a bus for four hours a day? We need to move towards a right to mobility support.”
10 million euros too expensive
“Without intervention, 10 million euros more than budgeted would be spent on student transport this year,” said Flemish Minister of Mobility Annick De Ridder (N-VA) today in parliament after questions from Els Robeyns (Vooruit) and An Christiaens (CD&V) about the file.
“It is important to find a balance between providing services to a vulnerable group and operating within the available resources,” she says. “We must dare to look at the conditions for student transport. Children now sometimes live at two addresses and sometimes have to be picked up from their grandparents. The reality has completely changed. But those rules are determined by Education.”
In the long term, the authority for student transport will be fully vested in Minister of Education Zuhal Demir (N-VA). De Ridder did not want to anticipate the timing of that transition on Wednesday.
