MANY Wyndham students will still be ineligible for a subsidy to cover the cost of travel to school despite the state government back-tracking on the issue.
Education Minister Martin Dixon last week bowed to public pressure by removing means-testing for the conveyance allowance, which is received by students who live more than 4.8 kilometres from their school and lack access to public transport.
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The testing was to be introduced as part of sweeping changes to the allowance which included altering its boundaries.
The changes mean students attending private and government schools in Tarneit, Truganina, Point Cook, Hoppers Crossing and Werribee will lose the subsidy while students attending schools in Williams Landing, Little River and Laverton North remain eligible, as their suburbs are deemed to have inadequate public transport options.
Mr Dixon said removing means-testing would make it easier for regional and rural families to transport their children to school.
However, no commitment has been made to ease the burden on families living in outer-metropolitan regions like Wyndham.
Bacchus Marsh Grammar principal Andrew Neal said the government’s back-tracking had not gone far enough. “The minister’s announcement is a part patch-up of a bad policy.”
While the test’s removal would help other schools which would have been “severely disadvantaged” by the changes, he feared his students would be forced to join more expensive schools closer to home if the allowance was cut.
Altona MP Jill Hennessy said removing the means test was a step in the right direction but would not help Wyndham schools.
“The arbitrary change to the boundary is still discriminating against people in growth areas in particular.”
A spokesman for Mr Dixon said the allowance was designed to help country students get to their nearest government or independent school.
