Page 2975 - Week 13 - Thursday, 23 November 1989
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Government Response
In the Governments view, it is essential that the Minister for Education be able to determine priorities and levels of service in respect of all aspects impacting on the delivery of educational services.
Expenditure on student transport represents a cost of providing education and the level of service to be provided should therefore be considered in the context of the education budget, rather than public transport.
On the other hand, the management of public transport should not be expected to operate as a commercial entity and simultaneously address government policies on the provision of concessional public transportation to certain sectors of the community. School students are simply another client of ACTION. The subsidy appropriated for ACTION should therefore reflect the effectiveness of commercial style management.
For similar reasons the cost of providing bus fare concessions to pensioners and other welfare beneficiaries is reflected in the budget of the Department of Community Services and Health. This ensures that the Minister for Community Services and Health can determine priorities and entitlements in relation to the provision of concessional public transportation to those in need. ACTION management should not be required to make these assessments.
Payments for school bus transport are not only made to ACTION. There are a number of rural services operated under private contracts for reasons of cost-effectiveness. It is desirable that the total cost of student transportation be reflected in the one program area rather disaggregated.
National accounting standards adopted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics classify school student transportation as an educational cost. These standards are progressively being adopted by State governments in the presentation of budgetary information.
For these reasons, the Government believes it is appropriate for school student transportation costs to be included in the education budget.
Recommendation (13)
the Government institute procedures to assess the effects of the reduction in education funding on teacher numbers, class size and the curricula offered by schools; and
the results of these assessments be detailed in the Department of Educations annual report (paragraph 4.4).
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