Transport cuts said to be an attack on St Richard's
PLANS to cut funding for faith school transport is 'an attack on the county's most successful college', according to Eastbourne's nearest Catholic school.
Many children from Eastbourne attend St Richard's Catholic College in Bexhill and governors and management at the school have slammed East Sussex County Council's proposal to cut transport funding for youngsters attending church schools.
The council says it currently chooses to provide support to children who opt to attend a church or denominational school rather than their local one.
But due to cuts in government grants, the council says cuts need to be made and removing funding for church school transport could save around 500,000 every year. Parents are now being consulted about the plans.
St Richard's will be most affected by this change of policy because more than 50 per cent of the discretionary transport budget is allocated to its pupils.
A spokesperson from the school said, "The governors and management of the college believe this to be an attack on the most successful college in the county.
"It is our view that the county council should look for savings within the 10 – 12 million statutory school transport budget as opposed to the significantly smaller budget of 400,000 overall for the faith schools transport budget.
"It has been widely acknowledged by many involved in education that the statutory budget contains areas of wastage where significant savings could easily be achieved through a more focused approach to county school transport.
"This proposal by the county council is a reversal of a long term policy part way through an academic year when parents and carers will have already sought and accepted a place at this college in the expectation that their would be support with travel costs.
"The proposed policy would discriminate against poorer families seeking a faith-based education for their child."
St Richard's says it saves the council money in various ways such as achieving high academic standards meaning it does not need council money to help it improve.
The Bexhill Catholic school has also criticised the council for scheduling the majority of the consultation period during the school holidays.
The school spokesperson added, "The governors, management, staff, parents and pupils feel very disappointed that rather than supporting such an outstanding college the county council are intending to introduce a policy which could threaten our significant achievements and lead to a change of the ethos which has been the cornerstone of our success."
Cllr Keith Glazier, lead member for children's services at East Sussex County Council, said, "Government cuts mean we have little choice but to make some difficult decisions about what services we can afford.
"This is about proposed cuts to support we currently choose to provide. Many local authorities do not provide any assistance for families who choose church schools."
Consultation on the council's plans started on July 22 and will run until September 30. The responses will be considered by councillors in the autumn.
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Weather for Bexhill-on-Sea
Thursday 24 May 2012
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