Rutte II to the finish line in style: another gap in the OCW budget
Despite the caretaker status of Rutte-II, the farewell budget of Minister Bussemaker and State Secretary Dekker of Education contains more news than the investment in teachers' salaries of 270 million euros alone, leaked at the end of last week.
A deficit of 244 million euros is passed on to the next team. In the following two years, that deficit rises to more than 400 million euros. "Significant for this cabinet," said AObchairman Liesbeth Verheggen.
On passionate education policy, the AOb not be able to catch the current outgoing cabinet. "The atmosphere of the marriage of convenience between VVD and PvdA seeped into education policy. Steps have been taken, but there was little synergy between the field and the OCW ministers. As a result, we too often did not know where we stood in recent years. were," says Verheggen.
Been fooled
The budget is another example of this. "It is nice that the PvdA has got it in the VVD's mind that you have to tackle wages in primary education and that a start has been made. But if it also turns out that this cabinet is going to the history books with an unrecorded cut on education that exceeds the 270 million euros, then you feel a bit fooled."
In that sense, Prinsjesdag 2017 resembles last year's edition, when the cabinet issued a roaring press release about investments while the overviews in the budget showed a cutback. That observation was greeted with chagrin from the Hoftoren. Verheggen: "It really took a while before people even wanted to respond to the booked discounts."
AObchairman Liesbeth Verheggen: Let VVD, CDA, D66 and ChristenUnie start with a clean slate. Stop the twists on the arm. Create clarity. Repair the gap of 244 million euros for 2018 and more than 400 million in 2019 and 2020.
Add to that the slips of State Secretary Dekker about the salary differences between primary and secondary education that he believes are justified - with the apologies of Minister Bussemaker that followed from an A4 page - and you get the impression that Rutte-II is less was concerned about the state of our education than the people who teach in the classroom every day. And so the interesting situation now arises that primary education is still on strike before a new coalition agreement for a higher salary and a lower workload.
Strike 5 October
According to Verheggen, a disaster will unfold in our education in the coming years if the next government tackles the problems just as half-heartedly as the departing team. In recent years, the AOb for an approaching teacher shortage and that is now a fact. To start with, we need 900 million euros to tackle salaries in primary education, and another 500 million euros for work pressure relief. The reactions that education has received in recent years are not reassuring. That is why we are flocking to Zuiderpark on 5 October to make our voices heard."
For Verheggen, there may soon be a line under this term of office. "Let VVD, CDA, D66 and ChristenUnie start with a clean slate. Stop beating around the bush. Create clarity. Repair the gap of 244 million euros for 2018 and more than 400 million in 2019 and 2020."
Future
After that, there must be a serious investment agenda for the future. "You earn back the 1,4 billion euros that we ask for our primary education with the PO front. Not in four years, but the gaze of statesmen shouldn't be that narrow either. We're not on strike for fun: a knowledge society must invest in education. That is a duty rather than a choice."
