For example, there was a vote on cartload of motions
A minority in the House of Representatives this afternoon supported a call to speak out for structural investments in basic education during the next term of office. This became clear this afternoon when the parties considered a large pile of motions from the education budget.
Picture: House of Representatives
The motion, submitted by GroenLinks, D66, SGP and ChristenUnie, was further supported by Denk, 50+ and the PVV. Together they represent 68 of the 150 seats in the House of Representatives. While co-signer Paul van Meenen (D66) the call during the debate explained last week as a “best efforts obligation”, various parties expressed prior criticism. For example, VVD and CDA immediately announced that they did not want to make any “false promises” about the next cabinet term.
SP Member of Parliament Peter Kwint: 'We want to keep up the pressure in this cabinet to give teachers what they deserve - and I mean that a lot more positively than it sounds'
In a statement of vote today, the SP emphasized that it would vote against the motion for another reason: in view of the teacher shortage, the party does not want to wait for the next cabinet. “No matter how noble the intentions are, in our opinion it does not do justice to the battle that must take place now. We want to keep up the pressure in this cabinet to give teachers their rightful wages - and I mean that in a much more positive way than it sounds," said SP Member of Parliament Peter Kwint.
On the table is another amendment from GroenLinks and the PvdA to structurally increase the education budget by 423,5 million euros. The amendments and the budget itself will be voted on in the week of December 3. That this proposal will receive support from coalition parties seems very unlikely. Minister Arie Slob stated last week that there is no more structural money in the cabinet as far as the cabinet is concerned.
Part time
As in previous years, the budget debate again resulted in a hefty grab bag of motions. Several motions aimed at allowing part-time teachers to spend more hours in front of the classroom, partly by making it more financially attractive, did achieve a majority. This also applied to a call from the four coalition parties VVD, CDA, D66 and CU to cut back the non-statutory unemployment benefits 'and to do everything possible to get unemployed teachers back to work in the classroom'. GroenLinks received support for a proposal to persuade qualified teachers who work outside of education with a return guarantee to stand in front of the class.
Opposition parties PvdA, SP and GroenLinks received insufficient support for a request to provide insight into the effects of the teacher shortage on equity. That motion was in line with an earlier call to register the teacher shortage nationally, a request to which the cabinet did not respond.
