Education will subsidize school transport for charter schools

PalmaThe Minister of Education, Antoni Vera, has announced that the Government will subsidize school transport for charter schools starting this school year. This year, the line of grants will be released in November. He did so during the presentation of the Catholic School year, the majority association of charter education in the Islands, in an event in which the minister lavished praise on this educational model and vindicated its role within the Balearic educational system.

"We are well aware that the Catholic school and charter schools in general are necessary. We have never hidden it: you are an indispensable pillar of our education. You will always have our support," stated Vera. The minister defended that, in a "free and diverse" community, families must be able to choose the educational model for their children, "whether through public or charter, secular or religious school".

Vera has assured that this freedom "would not be a reality without your contribution" and has defined Catholic School as a "benchmark for charter education in the Balearic Islands," both for its implementation and for its "paradigm of equality and equity." The minister also thanked the work of the charter centers and highlighted the measures adopted this term, among which he cited the increase in the financing modules for charter centers, the incorporation of 146 early childhood education teachers, and the creation of 700 new places for 0-3 year olds.

The announcement regarding school transport thus responds to one of the demands raised by the employers' association during the event. The secretary general of Catholic School, Antoni Vives, has also called for a supplement for positions in difficult-to-fill areas and the equalization of the management supplement between public and charter centers. The employers' association has also requested salary improvements for 0-3 year old educators, PALIC hours to favor the inclusion and linguistic integration of newly arrived students, and the updating of operating expense modules.

According to Catholic School's calculations, charter centers are pending a 30% increase in these modules. Vives has also demanded that the free nature of school transport be guaranteed and has focused on the increase in students with specific educational support needs. According to data provided by the employers' association, this school year there are 8% more of these students in their centers than last school year, about 600 more, and 1,000 more in two years. 32% of the centers have between 30% and 50% of students with these needs.

More 0-3 and Vocational Training supply

The president of Catholic School, Llúcia Salleras, has claimed the role of the charter school system in the universalization of the 0-3 year-old stage. According to data provided by the association, this academic year there has been a 61% increase in charter classrooms for this stage. Forty centers have opened their doors to the 0-3 stage this year, nine more than the previous year, while 14 schools are considering joining for the 2027-2028 academic year. "We want to contribute to the universalization of the 0-3 stage because we are here to provide our experience," stated Salleras, who also demanded that the Administration recognize the role of charter education in this stage.

Regarding Vocational Training, Vives explained that this year four new groups of charter vocational training have been incorporated, including an intermediate degree in Auxiliary Nursing Care, a higher degree in Early Childhood Education, and a specialization course in search engine positioning. She also announced the expansion of some cycles to second-year courses, including Commercial Activities, Cooking and Gastronomy, and Mobile Application Development. Salleras has defended that the charter sector must participate in the expansion of the vocational training offer so that this training "is within the reach of all students." The president of the association also identified among the sector's challenges the need to achieve an "agile and transparent" enrollment process and to maintain a shared framework of educational quality. In this sense, she called for progress in the incorporation of artificial intelligence and new technologies, but remarked that it is necessary to learn to use them "from a pedagogical and ethical point of view."

Regarding Baccalaureate, Salleras has claimed the results of her students in the university entrance exams (PAU). "We have students who have good grades in the PAU," she stated, before recalling that there are also students trained in charter centers who later take the Baccalaureate in public centers and obtain some of the best qualifications. Vives recalled, in this sense, that when the Government recognized the students with the best PAU grades, representatives of Catholic School were meeting with President Prohens. According to what she said, upon leaving they encountered students from their centers.

Vera: "Education is a matter of the heart"

In his speech, Vera emphasized the more personal dimension of education. The minister cited Saint John Bosco to argue that "education is a matter of the heart" and explained that educating goes beyond transmitting knowledge or correcting behaviors: "It is about establishing bonds with students, making them feel part of something, because only with trust can one reach" them. The minister took the opportunity at the event to also claim the need to recover the importance of reading and knowledge within classrooms. "Literacy must return to preschool. We cannot arrive at primary school simply by leveling," he stated. Vera advocated for the creation of a "unique, common reading plan for schools" and asserted that "the book must return to being the center of education" and that "knowledge must return to the center." He also called for strengthening the authority of the teaching staff.

In his diagnosis of the Balearic educational system, Vera focused on the complexity derived from the arrival of foreign students. He stated that the Balearic Islands have 20% of foreign population, compared to 12% in the Canary Islands, and highlighted that the last school year ended with "almost 4,000 students arriving once the year had already begun," in a community of 1.3 million inhabitants. The minister also highlighted the evolution of early school dropout rates. "In 2024, we were leading in school dropout rates. Thank God, we have now dropped five points. It is not a reason to celebrate, but we have dropped," he stated. Vera closed his speech with another quote, in this case attributed to Saint Teresa of Jesus: "Read and you will lead; do not read and you will be led".