DET procedure register > Student management and support > SMS-PR-009: School transport assistance programs for students with disabilities >

Target group and eligibility criteria

Target group
The target group for this program is students with a disability aged from three years attending the nearest school or the nearest school with a specialised program in the area of the student's disability/disabilities. They are students:

who are school aged with a verified diagnosis of disability according to Education Queensland (EQ) criteria
whose diagnosis of disability has not yet been verified by EQ but who are anticipated to meet criteria
who do not have a verified diagnosis according to EQ criteria but whose disability necessitates transport assistance
who are prior to Prep children with a known or suspected disability attending an approved Early Childhood Development program.

Eligibility criteria for both Category 1 and Category 2 assistance
Attendance at the nearest school or the nearest school with a specialised program in the area of the student's disability/disabilities.

Student must be in the target group.
Only one home address is recognised for the purpose of this program.
Only one school address is recognised for the purpose of this program.
School aged students attend school for at least 3 full days a week.
Children enrolled in an Early Childhood Development program must attend for a minimum of two hours per day on at least two days, or four hours on one day.
Meet eligibility criteria as defined below in the Category requested.

Eligibility criteria for Category 1 transport assistance
Students with a disability in the target group are eligible for Category 1 assistance (bus/rail/ferry travel, escort or conveyance allowance) if they meet one of the following criteria:

a. the student's home address is outside the defined distance from the school (more than 3.2 km by the shortest trafficable route for primary or special school students, or more than 4.8 km for secondary students).
OR
b. the student meets the eligibility criteria for the Safety Net. To meet these criteria, a student needs to be:
- listed on a Health Care Card (family's Health Care Card unless the student is independent) issued by Centrelink, or
- listed on a Pensioner Concession Card issued by Centrelink, or
- listed on a Department of Veterans' Affairs Pensioner Concession Card, or
- under a Care and Protection Order and under guardianship of the Director-General of the Department of Communities.
  OR
c. the student is rated 5 or 6 on the Student travel capability rating scale.

Eligibility criteria for Category 2 transport assistance
Students with a disability in the target group are eligible for Category 2 assistance (contract taxi or minibus) if:

a. the student is rated 5 or 6 on the Student travel capability rating scale
AND
b. the family demonstrates that they are unable to safely provide transport for the student to school, or the student is unlikely to develop the skills for independent travel. A family is judged to be unable to safely provide for or supervise the student's travel to school if one of the following circumstances exists and is likely to endure:
- Parents/carers have no means of transporting the student to school, or
- Parents/carers are not capable of transporting the student safely to school, or
- Parents/carers have obligations that are incompatible with transporting or supervising the student (which are over and above reasonable expectations of all parents/carers to get their children to school), or
- The student's capacity for independent travel is minimal because of their severe disability and they are unlikely to develop skills for independent travel.

In addition, students rated 4 'Travel Assisted' on the Student travel capability rating scale are eligible for Category 2 assistance if:

a. the student's home address is outside the defined distance from the school (more than 3.2 km by the shortest trafficable route for primary or special school students, or more than 4.8 km for secondary students)
OR
b. the student is eligible for safety net i.e. Health Care Card, Pensioner Concession Card, Veteran Affairs Card or student is under Care and Protection Order
AND
the family demonstrates that they are unable to safely provide transport for the student to school, or the student is unlikely to develop the skills for independent travel (as defined above).

Further conditions for Category 2 assistance
Individual contract transport assistance proposals must not exceed:

cost limits ($300 per week)
distance limits (25 km radially from school, relevant to bus travel only)
time limits (1 hour and 15 min one way journey).

Exceptional circumstances
Assessors are advised to liaise with their Principal Education Officer, Student Services prior to recommending an exceptional circumstance.

Assessors proposing assistance outside the eligibility criteria need to provide a rationale for exceptional circumstances (T1, page 5) with their recommendation for assistance.

Forms
Trained School Transport Assessor completes:

Parent/carer submits if required:

T2 Parent/carer application for consideration for contract transport assistance for student 157k.

This page is available as a printable pdf version 38k.

Related procedure
SMS-PR-009: School transport assistance program for students with disabilities

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