The decision of the Ministry of Education to begin negotiations with the employers of charter schools to update the funds that these private centers receive from the Stateconversations that both parties assume will lead to an increase in departures, has been criticized this Wednesday by the federation of families of the Ceapa public school, the associations of directors of public centers, a part of the teaching unions, as well as by Sumar, partner of the PSOE in the Government, and Podemos.
“It is not normal that more and more money is diverted to the concerted company and the public company begins to seem subsidiary to the concerted company. Concerted education was supposed to reach those places where public education did not reach. And public classrooms continue to be closed, we have very deteriorated educational centers, and at the same time concerts continue to be expanded to concerts,” stated María Capellán, president of Ceapa. On the side of concerted education, the review of the concerts, advanced by EL PAÍS, has had a better reception, although contained, given that they are on the verge of a complex negotiation and they consider it a long-delayed legal obligation. “It seems to us to be a step forward and we wait with anticipation” to see what it turns out to be, declared Ángela Melero, president of Concapa, the largest family entity in the concerted group.
The Government’s forecast is to begin, in compliance with what is established by the educational law, the Lomloe, by establishing the “real cost of the educational service” and, once said calculation has been made, update the agreements. The objective, explains the ministry, is to guarantee free education in subsidized centers. Hence, I expect that the updating of the concerts will go hand in hand with a commitment on the part of the concerted schools regarding the elimination of the quotas that a good part of the centers requires familiesand in compliance with school admission regulations, avoiding the selection of students. The ultimate goal is to end the enormous socioeconomic gap between the students of the concerted school network and the public one, which makes Spain the OECD country. more unequal in this fieldaccording to a recent report by Save the Children.
The concerted party has not made it easy for the Government this Wednesday in this regard. Both Luis Centeno, deputy general secretary of Catholic Schools, the main entity of the concerted school, and CECE, another employer association in the sector, have denied that there are problems either with respect to the collection of fees or compliance with admission regulations. “We cannot commit to something we do not do. It would be like recognizing the existence of quotas or admission criteria outside the law,” said Centeno. Although he added, in a more conciliatory tone: “However, in this process we must go in parts: first calculate the real cost, adjust the amount of the concert to the real cost and, finally, monitor and sanction actions outside the regulations.” .
The announcement has fallen like a bucket of cold water on the defenders of public education. “At a time of declining student numbers and when the public system has deficiencies in infrastructure and needs more human resources, the priority should be to increase resources for the public,” said Jorge Delgado, president of the federation of directors. of public schools Fedeip. Delgado believes that the objective of ending quotas and segregation is positive, but that to do so the resources of the educational inspection service should be “increased.” The review of the concerts comes, laments Antoni González Picornell, president of the federation of directors of public institutes Fedadi, in a context in which various autonomies (the majority of regional executives are now in the hands of the PP) sign new concerts while cutting public units.
Sumar has issued a statement in which it opposes the update of the concerts that Education plans to carry out, while demanding that “all financial and political efforts” be directed to improving public education. “Financing more to centers that break the law is rewarding those who do not respect either the Constitution or the different educational laws that have prohibited these practices,” the training said. Podemos, for its part, has considered that the review of the concert modules represents a “mockery and an insult” to those who defend public education.
The teaching unions most critical of the announcement are the STES-i, CSIF and Anpe, which have agreed to point out, with nuances in tone, that the priority in the administrations’ investment should be public education. CC OO and UGT, which in addition to the public sector have an important presence among workers in private concerted education, have agreed to demand an “improvement and dignification” of the working and remuneration conditions of workers, “both in public education as well as concerted education.” Both unions have demanded, at the same time, that the improvement of public school financing be also put on the table, “which has suffered harsh cuts in recent years from which it has not yet recovered.”
