Decision on the Reasonableness of the School Route and the Obligation to Organize Student Transportation

Facts

The case concerns a dispute over the establishment of student transportation for high school students from the former local municipality of Dettighofen to the school in Hüttwilen. The appellant [X.] applied to the Hüttwilen High School District (OSG Hüttwilen) for the provision of free student transportation, as the school route was considered unreasonable for the students due to its length of 8 km and a height difference of 100 m. The OSG Hüttwilen initially rejected the application, whereupon [X.] filed an appeal with the Department of Education and Culture of the Canton of Thurgau. The Department obliged the OSG Hüttwilen to provide student transportation during the winter months. Against this decision, the OSG Hüttwilen filed a complaint with the Administrative Court of the Canton of Thurgau, which dismissed the complaint of the OSG Hüttwilen and partially upheld the complaint of [X.] . The Administrative Court decided that a student transportation service must be established in the morning and evening during the winter half-year and that the OSG Hüttwilen must organize either a student transportation service or a lunch table throughout the entire school year.

[X.] filed a constitutional appeal against the decision of the Administrative Court with the Federal Supreme Court. He objected that the Administrative Court expected the students to cover the school route at least in the morning and evening by bicycle during the summer half-year.

Considerations

The Federal Supreme Court dismissed the constitutional appeal. It stated that the reasonableness of the school route depends not only on the length, but also on the height difference, the condition of the route, its danger, and the age of the students. Although the…