Eligibility
This page describes the eligibility criteria for school transport assistance. It applies to all students except those with special education needs. Eligibility criteria and types of assistance for Special Education students can be found on the SESTA eligibility page.
Purpose of school transport assistance
Mainstream school transport assistance is designed to help caregivers with students in state and state-integrated schools who, because of distance or lack of public transport services, do not have ready access to transport to and from their nearest school. School transport assistance is a shared responsibility between the government and the caregiver rather than a door-to-door service. Types and amounts of assistance can vary from situation to situation.
Overview
The diagram below provides an overview of the eligibility criteria for mainstream school transport assistance. Transport assistance for students with special needs can be found on the SESTA eligibility page.
Information on each of the criteria can be found further down the page.
Age and Distance
To meet the age and distance criteria a student must live further than a certain distance from the nearest appropriate school, regardless of whether it is the school the student attends. The distance is measured over the shortest public road or public pedestrian route from the home roadside gate of the student to the nearest appropriate school.
The distances are:
- more than 3.2 kilometres for students under 10 years of age
- more than 4.8 kilometres for students 10 years of age or over.
Public transport
If suitable public transport is available, students are not eligible for school transport assistance (note that this criterion does not apply to Māori Medium School students). A public transport service is suitable if it meets all of the following criteria:
- travels within 2.4 kilometres of the student’s home
- travels within 2.4 kilometres of the nearest appropriate school
- has a suitable timetable
- does not require the student to change buses more than once on a journey.
Nearest appropriate school
Transport assistance helps a student reach the nearest school, usually one of the following:
- the school closest to the student’s home
- the Māori Medium School1 closest to the student’s home (if the caregiver wants the student to attend a Māori Medium School)
- the mainstream school closest to the student’s home (if the caregiver wants the student to attend a school other than a Māori Medium School if this is the closest)
- the closest integrated school having the same special character with which the caregiver identifies.
If the nearest school is unsuitable for the student, the nearest appropriate school is used instead. For this purpose, unsuitable schools are:
- schools of another gender or the wrong year level for the student
- schools of special character with which the caregiver does not identify
- private schools
- schools that do not provide education in the chosen language (see section below for further information)
- schools with enrolment schemes that exclude the student
- a school from which a student has been excluded or expelled.
Exception: special character
A special character school is a school with a special character with which the caregiver identifies with. This may be a particular religion, educational philosophy or language in which the curriculum is taught (Māori or English only). Information about Māori immersion schools is in the next section.
Nearest appropriate school: Māori Immersion
School transport assistance policy supports a caregiver’s right to choose whether their child’s education is in Māori or in English where both options are available. When a student attends the closest school that can provide education in the desired language (Māori or English only), this school is the nearest appropriate school.
For the purpose of this policy, the following definitions apply:
- a school teaching predominately in English provides over 50% of tuition in the student’s year level in English.
- a mainstream Māori immersion school provides education at Level 1 or 2 immersion. Note that this is different from Kura Kaupapa Māori and other Māori medium schools, which are funded in a different way1.
The examples below will help clarify how this policy works:
- A student attends a school because it is a mainstream Māori immersion school and the two closer schools cannot provide the required education in Māori. The two closer schools are excluded, and the mainstream Māori immersion school becomes the “nearest appropriate school”. The other eligibility criteria apply.
- A student’s nearest school is a mainstream Māori immersion school. The caregiver wants the student to be educated in an English-language environment and enrols them in the next nearest school, which can provide this. The mainstream Māori immersion school is excluded, and the school attended becomes the “nearest appropriate school”. The other eligibility criteria apply.
Getting a school excluded from being the nearest appropriate school
The board of the school that the student attends is responsible for getting confirmation from the bypassed schools’ boards that they cannot provide education in the special character with which the caregiver identifies, and agreement to transport assistance being provided. The table below shows how this process works.
| Step |
Action |
| 1 |
Applicant school gathers required material which includes:
- written agreement from bypassed schools
- details of relevant student(s)
- a written request.
The school then forwards the material to their local service agent. |
| 2 |
Service agent assesses material and:
- adds comments on transport implications
- indicates the estimated type and cost of assistance
- forwards all material to the Ministry of Education local office.
|
| 3 |
Ministry of Education local office:
- has discussions with the schools involved
- verifies that the school meets the immersion criteria
- adds comments and a recommendation
- forwards all material on to the Resourcing Division.
|
| 4 |
Resourcing Division:
- considers material and recommendations
- makes a decision
- notifies the local office and the service agent.
|
| 5 |
The service agent notifies the applicant school, and other schools involved, of the decision. If approval is given, the service agent applies the remaining school transport eligibility criteria as in any other case. |
Further ineligibility categories
Students falling into any of the following categories are not eligible for school transport assistance:
- any student who is not aged 5 and over
- students whose home or normal place of residence is not New Zealand (this includes foreign fee paying students, but excludes foreign exchange students)
- private school, home-schooled, or Correspondence School students.
Ineligible students
Bus services are provided for the eligible students requiring assistance. However, school bus operators may allow ineligible students to travel on the bus as long as eligible students are not disadvantaged. They will charge ineligible students a fare.
1. A Māori Medium School is a Kura, Kura Kaupapa Māori, Wharekura or designated character school providing education in Te Reo Māori established under Section 155 or Section 156 of the Education Act 1989. All eligibility criteria except availability of public transport services apply to Māori Medium School students.