Half deal for faith schools

The decision applies only to existing pupils and will apply in future only to pupils from low-income families.

This week Tony Campbell, principal of St Richard's Catholic College and a vociferous opponent of change to the established county policy of free travel, told the Observer he had no comment to make at the present time.

The county announced on Tuesday that parents choosing to send their children to denominational schools in East Sussex will continue to receive some financial help towards transport costs.

The decision follows consultation into whether the council should change its policy of providing pupils with free travel to denominational schools if they live more than three miles away.

The county cabinet has decided to introduce a new charge to parents at the equivalent of half the cost of providing a seat on a hired coach from September 2008.

At the current rate that would be 260 a year.

Future full support for parents of children attending denominational primary schools will also now be limited to low-income families.

The new arrangements will only apply to children admitted to denominational secondary schools from September 2008; those who currently receive free transport will continue to do so. Children from low income families will receive completely free transport in line with the Education and Inspections Act.

Cllr Keith Glazier, lead county cabinet member for children's and adults' services said: "In coming to our decision we have listened to parents and representatives of denominational schools.

"It means that we treat all parents fairly and at the same time allows the council to save a significant amount of money over time. This helps us continue to achieve the difficult balance of being fair to council tax payers while providing cost-efficient services."

The county says the change was considered because of significantly rising transport costs and questions about whether the current arrangements are fair. Most parents who choose not to send their child to a local school have to pay the transport costs.

At the moment the council spends 585,000 on transporting 1,334 pupils to denominational schools which is about 7 per cent of the total spending on school transport.

The decision to introduce the new policy will mean that up to 300,000 will be saved progressively over a five year period.

At its meeting on January 30 the cabinet authorised consultation on possible changes to the current policy of providing pupils with assistance with transport costs to denominational schools. Currently the council chooses to give children going to these schools free transport where the distance is over three miles and the child or parent is of that faith. For primary schools assistance has been given where the pupil lives more than two miles away.

The schools concerned are church schools where the ownership of the buildings rests with the relevant church.

During the consultation 70,000 leaflets were distributed to parents. Some 2,217 response forms were received and 190 further replies were made on-line. To the question "Do you think children who go to a denominational school should be entitled to free transport?" 1,529 had responded "yes" and 585 stated "no".