JUST three people have supported a proposal from Ceredigion Cere­digion Council to charge A-level students for transport to school.

The controversial proposal has been put forward in an attempt to find savings in the council’s education budget and would see youngsters in post-16 education charged £390 a year to catch a school bus.

But after going out to consultation on the suggestion, the res­ponse has been overwhelmingly opposed to the proposal with just three people backing it compared to 197 people who said they were against the charge.

A proposal that would see any youngster that takes up a spare seat on a school bus charged the same amount has also failed to win support, with 69 people saying they oppose it and just nine respondents saying they are in fav­our of the charge.

A report into the consultation response was due to go before the council’s learning communities scrutiny committee on Monday (9 May) where a recommendation to the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, 17 May, will be agreed.

The council has already admitted the proposal could see youngsters turn away from post-16 education because of concerns over the cost of travel, and consultation responses have insisted that any drop in the amount of youngsters studying for A-levels could have a knock-on effect on schools, with pupil numbers dropping and the selection of A-levels available could also be hit.

It was also claimed that introducing the charge could be considered discriminatory to youngsters who live in rural areas as they will have to travel to school meaning they will either have to pay the charge or find an alternative way to get into school

Currently, around 770 post-16 learners travel to school on council-run school buses.

If the full council backs the introduction of the charge for transport, education chiefs have said it would not come into force until September 2017.