The alarm of Catholic schools

Catholic Schools in Andalusia (ECA), employers organization representing most of the “concerted” educational institutions of the communities in Andalusia (private schools with public funding) protest Andalusia’s placement as one of the least-funded independent regions among co-funded education systems, as shown in the figures released a few days ago by the Ministry of Education contained in the 2015 Report on “Public education indicators”. Bottom of the list. According to the Report, which presents the final figures for the year 2013, Andalusia is the fourth community in terms of public spending for concerted teaching, after Castilla-La Mancha, Extremadura and the Canary Islands. “In concrete terms – denounces Eca -, our region allocates to concerted education 9.9% (739 million euro) of the autonomous education budget, while the Spanish average stands at 14.2%. Andalusia ranks behind communities such as the Basque Country, Navarre or the Balearic Islands, where spending on concerted education reaches 24.4% in the case of primary school. Figures released by the Ministry show that in Spain 18.4% of non-university educational centers have concerted all or part of the imparted courses. In these centers are registered 25.5% of all students. And while public spending on education amounts to 46.4764 billion euro (2012), only 5 705.8 billion were allocated to private concerted learning, namely 14.2% of public spending on education. Costs per pupil. ECA Secretary-General Carlos Ruiz, decries the fact that “Andalusia ranks last in terms of investments on concerted education, chosen for their children by hundreds of thousands of parents in our region, and nonetheless still viewed with suspicion by the public administration”. Ruiz underlined that ECA represents four hundred centers in Andalusia and over 225 thousand students whose families have chosen a “concerted” school ensuring “quality education based on Christian values”. Over 16 thousand teachers work in these schools. At the same time, ECA Secretary-General stressed that socially and economically advanced communities in Spain (Basque Countries, Navarra and Balearic islands) earmark a greater portion of the budget to concerted education. Ruiz underlined that the annual cost per student in public schools amounts to almost twice the amount of “concerted education centers”. In concrete terms, the average cost per student at national level in 2012 amounted to 5.878 euro, while in concerted education centers it amounts to approximately 3000 euro per student per year. An agreement on education. Moreover, the secretary general of the Catholic Schools in Andalusia called upon the Government and the public Administration of Andalusia to recover dialogue and common sense, “to prevent their political battles from being fought in Andalusian classrooms, where the real struggle involves the Region’s poor academic results, as shown in reports on pupils’ international evaluation programs and school failure. New problems are created instead of solutions, which is what citizens really need to exit the crisis”. Carlos Ruiz underlined the need to promote an overarching Stability Pact on education to overcome present uncertainties, providing the Country with the much-needed stability to work on shared projects in the realm of education. “Dis-Concerted”. Already in 2013, 400 educational centers of the Catholic Schools in Andalusia launched the campaign, “Des-Concertados” (literally “Dis-Concerted”), in support of the parents’ right to choose the best education for their children. A minute of silence, a bracelet against the “Dis-Concertation” and a signature-collection were among the actions of this campaign. The decision of the Education Council of Andalusia to reconsider co-funded measures and withdraw allocations to a set of education centers had led ECA coordinators to set up the platform “We are Dis-Concerted”, an action aimed at coordinated actions as a sign of protest against the measures adopted by the Andalusian political administration.