Regional governments plan to cut education spending

In 2011, the Spanish government agreed in the Fiscal and Financial Policy Council to set new goals for cutting the public deficit of the autonomous communities from an overall average of 3.9% to 1.3%. In response, several regional governments have drawn up new plans for reductions in their education budgets. In some regions fixed-term teaching positions will not be renewed and working hours will be extended. Unions have called strikes to protest against these measures.

Adjustments in education sector

In 2011, the Spanish government agreed in its Fiscal and Financial Policy Council to set new goals to try to reduce the average public deficit of all the autonomous communities (regions) from 3.9% to 1.3%. The ultimate goal is to fix the deficit of all the public administrations at 6% of GDP by the end of 2011.

In response, several regional governments have drawn up new plans which make cuts in their education budgets, one area that falls within the competence of the autonomous communities. The most significant of these reductions affect five regions.

In Madrid, the regional government (People’s Party, PP) has increased weekly teaching working hours from 18 to 20 for secondary schools. It is also reported to have chosen not to renew between 2,000 and 3,000 fixed-term teaching positions. This number is a union estimate and has been quoted by various media, while the regional government has not provided any official figures.

In Castilla la Mancha, the regional government (PP) has increased weekly teaching working hours from 18 to 20 for secondary schools and from 23 to 25 for primary schools. Furthermore, 800 fixed-term contract teachers (and perhaps as many as 850, according union figures) have not had their contracts renewed and no new teachers will be hired for the next academic year.

In Navarre, the regional government (Navarrese People’s Union, UPN, and the Socialist Party of Navarre, PSN-PSOE), has increased weekly teaching working hours from 17 to 18. In addition, 250 fixed-term teaching contracts have not been renewed.

In Galicia, the regional government (PP) has increased weekly teaching working hours from 21 to 25 for primary schools, and has not renewed 160 fixed-term primary education teaching contracts.

As far as other autonomous communities are concerned, such as the Canary Islands, La Rioja or Murcia, there has been a noticeable lack of public employment offers for the 2011–2012 academic year.

Reaction of the unions

The measures are opposed by all five of the representative unions in the education sector: the National Association of Education Teachers (ANPE); the Federation of Education of the Trade Union Confederation of Workers’ Commissions (FE-CCOO); the Education Sector of the Independent Trade Union Confederation of Public Servants (Enseñanza-CSI·F); the Federation of Education Workers of the General Workers’ Confederation (FETE-UGT); and the Confederation of Education Workers’ Unions (STEs).

In protest against cuts in the education budget, the five unions called for a demonstration that was held on 22 October, at which a joint statement from all unions was read (in Spanish, 83Kb PDF).

The unions say the regional governments are making the education sector pay for the crisis by imposing redundancies, making cutbacks in programmes and decreasing both quality and equity. For these reasons, the unions decided to take joint action against the proposals to impose budget cuts in education, arguing that public education is the only education that guarantees equal opportunities and social cohesion.

However, the regional governments maintain that the measures will not negatively affect the quality of public education because they only moderately increase the number of hours teachers are required to work each week. Furthermore, they emphasise that pupils will continue to receive the same number of teaching hours.

Commentary

Attention should be drawn to the call for strikes in all four autonomous communities. The most notable unrest has taken place in the Madrid region, where eight strikes have been called since September by regional federations of the teaching unions, though ANPE and CSI-F did not take part in the last strike.

Pablo Sanz de Miguel, CIREM Foundation