Only VVD votes against research into the education budget
The House of Representatives wants to know whether there is enough money for higher education and research and whether it is well spent. A motion by GroenLinks to investigate the education budget received broad support yesterday. Only the VVD voted against.
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De motion calls on the government to commission an independent study into the budget for secondary vocational education, higher vocational education and university education. Is that big enough and does it fit in with the various policy goals, GroenLinks MP Lisa Westerveld wanted to know.
Bottlenecks
She responded, among other things, to the statement by research bureau CHEPS that 'a large number of bottlenecks in funding' are related to a lack of money. She also referred to the research led by former PvdA State Secretary Van Rijn. It only examines the distribution of the current education budget; the committee does not check whether that money is also sufficient. Westerveld also referred to comparable research in primary and secondary education.
Almost all opposition parties have signed the motion. Government party D66 also did that. Member of Parliament Paul van Meenen withdrew his own motion. Only the VVD government party ultimately voted against.
Utopie (Utopia)
Why actually? “It is utopian to expect objective results from this research”, says VVD MP Judith Tielen. According to her, the parties have different ideas about what adequate funding is.
She also thinks it is a shame to put people to work when there are sufficient ways to calculate budgets. "Consider, for example, the Court of Audit."
