The PSIB accuses the Government of "shielding" the subsidized nursery schools while abandoning the municipal ones

PalmaThe PSIB-PSOE denounced this Monday in Algaida that Marga Prohens' government prioritizes subsidized nursery schools over municipal ones and has called for local administrations to receive the same support to be able to assume the expenses derived from education for 0 to 3 year olds. The socialist candidate for the presidency of the Consell de Mallorca, Amanda Fernàndez, made these statements in front of the Flor de Murta municipal nursery school, accompanied by the mayor of Algaida, Marga Fullana, and socialist mayors from Mallorca.

Fernàndez has criticized that the Ministry of Education will assume, from September, the cost of the salaries of teachers and educators in subsidized nursery schools, while, as he has denounced, the town councils that manage municipal nursery schools continue to have to face a large part of these expenses with their own resources. "Instead of helping municipalities to cope with this increase, what the Government does is assume the salaries of the subsidized nursery schools and leave the labor conditions of the municipal nursery schools for later," stated the socialist leader.

The PSIB candidate has also railed against the new educational concert model approved by the Government. Fernàndez recalled that the decree establishes concerts of up to ten years and considered that this means "ring-fencing" the rules of the game for subsidized schools. "If we don't know what will happen with education in five years, imagine in ten," he pointed out. In this regard, he accused the Executive of changing the educational model of the Balearic Islands and moving away from the defense of public education. "We have always defended that public education must be the basis of the welfare state. On the other hand, Marga Prohens' Government is putting subsidized schools at the center and dismantling public ones," he assured.

The socialists have also focused on the salary supplement for outsourced municipal nursery school workers. Fernàndez explained that several town councils have approved motions to ask the Government to contribute to financing the increase in expenses that this supplement entails, but has denounced that the PP has voted against it. "We have examples of town councils that have made the effort and have brought motions to ask Education to help municipalities pay for this increase, and the PP has always voted against it," he stated.

Fernàndez took advantage of the event to support the demand of the STEI, UGT and CCOO unions for an autonomous agreement for nursery school workers. As he defended, the socio-labor conditions should be the same for all educators, regardless of whether they work in a public, municipal, outsourced, or subsidized nursery school.

Algaida claims "the same rights"

The mayoress of Algaida, Marga Fullana, has claimed the role of municipal nursery schools and has put forward the Flor de Murta centre as an example, which has more than 35 years of history. Fullana has pointed out that for town councils, assuming the payrolls of the municipal nursery school workers represents a "very high" expense and has called for these centres to have "the same rights" as subsidized nursery schools.

The mayoress has remarked that this claim does not imply being against supporting the educators of subsidized nursery schools. "We agree that educators of subsidized nursery schools should be supported, but we demand that municipal ones have the same rights," she defended. The event brought together representatives from socialist municipalities of Mallorca, who wanted to thus visualize their opposition to the Government's policies on 0-3 education and demand greater involvement from the regional Executive in the financing of the municipal nursery school network.