The Inspectorate takes a closer look at the richest institutions
The Education Inspectorate will examine the school boards and partnerships with the largest financial reserves per sector. The findings will be reported at the end of this year.
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The Inspectorate selects the 'richest' ten percent of the institutions per sector and will look at the underlying reasons. If boards do not have substantiation, they must still provide it. At the end of this year, with the publication of the annual report 'Financial state of education', the inspector will report. It will also publish the final signaling values for excessive reserves. In 2020, the next group of institutions will be examined, so writes Minister Arie Slob to the Lower House.
On the shelf
The Lower House is in its stomach with the increasing amount of education money on the shelf stays put. For institutions in the financial danger zone, the inspectorate already uses financial indicators, so-called signaling values. These also existed for over-wealthy institutions, but they have disappeared over the years. With the new study, the inspectorate wants to test which standards now provide the best picture in all sectors, from primary to higher education.
It seems that the reserves of many boards are disproportionate to the real risks they run
Growing
Because boards budget too cautiously and underestimate their income, the reserves have continued to grow every year. 'It seems that the reserves of many boards are disproportionate to the real risks they run,' writes Slob. 'Mainly partnerships maintain large reserves, and the reserves are also increasing every year. This is surprising, because they usually run less financial risk than school boards. And the fact that reserves of partnerships are relatively high contrasts sharply with complaints from schools about too little money for support in the classroom.' It is also important that the internal contradiction, via works councils and (joint) participation councils, is strengthened.
