A number of communities will be affected by the changes, including Te Pohue, which sits along the Napier-Taupō road. Photo: RNZ
About 500 families in rural Hawke's Bay are facing an uncertain future because the bus service taking their kids to school is being cancelled by the Ministry of Education.
Some parents are in tears, trying to figure out whether to homeschool their children or try to sell their properties so they can move closer to a school where their kids can continue their education.
The bus service travels 60 to 70 kilometres every day to drop students off and bring them back. But it is going to be canned at the end of this school year after the ministry carried out a review that found a number of students using the services were not eligible.
A number of communities will be affected, including Te Pohue, which sits along the Napier-Taupō road.
Norm Brown, chair of the Te Pohue Community and District, said his settlement was already stressed and vulnerable following Cyclone Gabrielle, and an Education Review Office report told Checkpoint the biggest driver of rural truancy was the lack of bus services.
Rural Hawkes Bay bus service cancellation
Brown said that report was completely ignored, and there has been no consultation or notice given to the community about the decision.
He told RNZ there could be a dire impact on the farming industry in the region, and the ministry's excuse - that many students using the service were not eligible because they did not live far enough away from their chosen school - was "bullshit".
"I'm not sure how they work that out. They seem to be changing the rules to suit themselves. And even if they're not eligible, the system should be fixed. If it's not working right, then it should be fixed - not just cancel the run.
"They can come and tell us how we should adapt our bus services, how we should, you know, let us have a van and we can run it ourselves if they're that short of money, but don't just cut us off at the knees. That's too barbaric."
Brown said the students had been "eligible for 50 years" until now.
"If we need to get a small van and have our own drivers on it to save costs, then let's go for it. But at the moment in my community, it's gonna cost about $17,500 to augment what they're going to cut."
If they had to buy a bus themselves, it would cost at least $50,000.
But it was impossible for parents to do their work as well as pick up and drop off kids.
"You can't go to town at 10 o'clock and turn up for a job and then leave at three o'clock to pick your kids up and take them home. I mean, it just doesn't work. Not many people have jobs available for those times."
The ministry has denied the changes were a cost-cutting measure, telling the New Zealand Herald it "does not undertake route reviews with the specific intention of saving costs".
It said the region had been given an extension until the end of 2024 so schools and parents could make arrangements, and had assistance available for those willing to send their kids to "their closest state or state-integrated school".