Judge does not fix cuts in green education
The agricultural training centers can whistle for 25 million euros that the schools tried to extract from the Dutch state. Although there is underfunding in green education, the judge cannot repair the cuts.
Image: AOC Council
Agricultural training centers (AOCs) are the only type of education that falls under the Ministry of Agriculture, which has been part of the Ministry of Economic Affairs for a few years now. In 2013, the ministry decided to cut costs of 55 million euros from 2016, of which 28 million euros would be for the account of the AOCs. Since that announcement, the AOC council, in which the thirteen AOCs are represented, has fought unsuccessfully against the cutbacks, which the council sees as unequal in law. Calculations by consultancy firm Berenschot showed that from 2016 an AOC will receive about a thousand euros less per pupil than a ROC. The difference between the comparable courses of veterinary assistant and doctor's assistant even amounts to 1740 euros per student. Research by the Ministries of Education and Economic Affairs has shown that green education has been 'relatively generously financed' for years and that, after the cutbacks, the differences in funding are not that bad. That is why Minister Jet Bussemaker saw no reason to accommodate green education.
I cannot sell to my students that there is less money available for them than for fellow students who go to a ROC
The green schools hoped for a long time that the government contribution to agricultural education would be repaired in the cabinet agreement, but because the formation takes a long time, the AOCs are also in danger of having to make do with 2018 million euros less in 25. While several AOCs are already working with a negative budget. “I cannot sell to my students that there is less money available for them than for fellow students who go to a ROC. For now, the AOCs have solved this inequality with a negative budget, but we cannot keep that up for days on end,” says board member Hans Jansen of the AOC council. That is why the council went to court in Zwolle in June.
It acknowledges that AOCs are underfunded compared to ROCs. But says nothing can be done about it. Ministries determine their own budgets, that's not what judges are about.
Big loss for the thirteen training centers that pinned their hopes on the verdict. "We are currently looking with our lawyers to see if there are any leads for a next step," responds Jansen of the AOC Council. There is also talk of transferring green education to the Ministry of Education. “When it is known whether this transfer will go ahead, we will have a clear discussion partner who can get to work with the underfunding.”
