Municipalities must pay for the costs that parents of children in special education have to incur.
Municipalities are responsible for the transport of children in special education, but in practice this often goes wrong. As a result, these children with disabilities, who cannot go to school independently, run into problems. Sometimes they don't even come to school at all.
During the committee debate The current problems in the implementation of school transport by municipalities were discussed in detail. Prior to the debate, Elijah Delsink, chairman of the sector organization Student Interest Secondary Special Education (LBVSO), handed over a petition with 100.000 signatures to the minister.
Later in the evening, the subject was placed on the agenda of the House of Representatives, where a majority voted. Municipalities must pay for the costs that parents of children in special education have to incur to get their children to school on time.
The VVD supports this proposal and the PVV also agrees, says PVV MP Beertema. “The municipalities have left these children in the lurch. This has to be solved one way or the other.” For Barm Beertema (PVV) the problem is that everyone shifts the responsibility to the other and in the end there is no solution. Beertema praised LBVSO's efforts to draw attention to the urgency of the problem.
His D66 colleague Van Meenen wants the responsible minister Wiersma (Education) to arrange this with the municipalities as soon as possible. For Mariëlle Paul (VVD) we must immediately look for a solution and only then look for a solution for the longer term. “We often talk about problems, but fortunately many things also go well. Drivers work every day with a lot of passion and we should also draw attention to that”.
Lisa Westerveld (Groenlinks) acknowledges that what we have to solve together is a dilemma. “Not only the right to education but also the right to self-determination is being violated”. As far as she is concerned, during the round table, at which VNG was not present, various solutions were proposed, such as the use of private taxis, coach companies and the accelerated delivery of driver cards. Wherever there is no clear responsibility, authorities point at each other and we must get rid of that as soon as possible.
For the SP, Member of Parliament Peter Kwint asks whether the cabinet recognizes that the current form of tender has led to a race to the bottom. It may be a good idea to also look at smaller taxi companies that can best help with the implementation of student transport, but cannot get through the current procedure due to the form of the tender.
Wiersma soon wants to sit down with all parties to find a long-term solution. If the House calls on him to do so, he is also prepared to consider whether it is better to decentralization of student transport and to bring it back to the government. But for the time being, he mainly sees emergency solutions for the implementation of student transport as a public task.
