A Network-Based Solution for the Fair Student-to-School Allocation

Abstract

This paper presents a mathematical model for planning in public schools, considering the satisfaction of the total demand for education, fair students' access to schools, and the total travel distance. Given a set of schools, the aim of the model is to find an optimal allocation of students such that school should is available to each group of students. The model includes information about geographical prioritised access zones which should be covered by each school. The objective function essentially seeks to minimise the total distance travelled by students. We propose a multi-commodity programming model for solving this problem. The model is used to analyse the effects of different allocation policies on the fairness of student allocation to schools. Results show that a fair distribution of students of each social class to each school is obtained, while the total distance being travelled is minimised.