The rules for school rides might change

The education administration in Växjö has reviewed the regulations for when a pupil has the right for school rides. It is the distance between the home and the school that decides. For pupils in preschool and grades 1-3, the limit now goes at two kilometers, three kilometers for pupils in grades 4-6 and five kilometers for high school pupils, writes Smålandsposten.

Now the proposal is to add one kilometer for all the annual courses until next fall. This means that fewer students are allowed to ride the school bus. At the same time, the waiting times for how long a pupil has to wait between schooling and school rides in the morning and completed school day can be extended from 60 minutes to 120 minutes.

– I would rather spend resources in the classroom than on school buses. Two kilometers is quite a short distance and there have been quite a few extra trips. In the current situation, we need to review all the resources we have. Then a suggestion is that we go back to the distances we had before, says Pernilla Tornéus (M), chair of the education board, to Smålandsposten.

The total cost of school rides has increased since the introduction of shorter distances. According to the municipality's data, the cost has increased from 37,891,000 Swedish crowns to 39,731,000 Swedish crowns.