UOB and Alternativa criticize the single school district for promoting segregation and weakening public schools

PalmThe Department of Education has presented a new proposal to implement a single school zone in most municipalities of Mallorca, with the aim of making the distribution of school places more flexible and expanding families' choice of schools. According to the Government, the initiative seeks to simplify the school enrollment process and allow families to choose their preferred schools beyond the current districts. This proposal would extend the model already applied in Palma, where there were previously eight school zones, now two, and next year, one, to other municipalities on the island. However, in larger towns like Calvià and Felanitx, several zones will be maintained to balance the supply. For certain programs, such as the Arts Baccalaureate, a single zone will be implemented between neighboring municipalities to expand educational options. The proposal has met with opposition from the educational community and the political opposition. The UOB union denounces that "this measure does not guarantee the equal opportunities touted by the Regional Ministry of Education, but rather will favor precisely what has already occurred in recent years: school segregation, elitism, and the concentration of vulnerable students in certain schools." According to UOB, the single school zone is "a globalizing and elitist measure that directly undermines community integration in neighborhoods and harms families with fewer economic resources and greater mobility difficulties." Along the same critical lines, the Alternativa Docente union expresses "its outright rejection of the gradual consolidation of the single school zone," a measure that, "under the pretext of guaranteeing freedom of choice, increases social and educational segregation in our schools." The union warns that "the single zone fosters a competitive system among schools that clearly benefits private schools, while condemning public schools to become a second-class resource, primarily intended for students with the greatest educational, social, and economic needs."

Alternativa Docent believes that this model "is neither accidental nor neutral" and maintains that "it responds to a political will to shift resources, prestige, and students toward the subsidized private system, progressively weakening the public network." Furthermore, it denounces that "the government uses the discourse of freedom of choice to hide an explicit renunciation of guaranteeing equity," since "without balanced zoning and without bold policies for student distribution, freedom is only real for those who already start from a position of privilege."

The union also warns that "public schools cannot be the repository of all inequalities while other schools select students directly or indirectly" and cautions that this model "breaks social cohesion, worsens teachers' working conditions, and jeopardizes the fundamental right to a quality education for all."

Not equitable

UOB Ensenyament advocates for a "transparent and fair system, with common, objective, and equitable criteria—which automatically eliminates points for former students—a system that provides schools with the necessary support and resources based on their needs, and effective and comprehensive regulation of private schools that receive taxpayer funding." They also emphasize that many families have already lost their children's places at schools where they previously enrolled, despite having sibling points, demonstrating that the current system "does not guarantee equity or the right to schooling near the school." For its part, Alternativa Docent demands "the end of the single school district," as well as "educational planning that places public schools at the backbone of the system," "active policies against school segregation," and "a fair distribution of students and resources." The union concludes that "defending public schools is defending equal opportunities, social cohesion, and the future of the country" and warns: "we will not accept the continued deliberate degradation of the public education system." The Ministry of Education argues that the single zone will facilitate the choice of the majority of families and asserts that, in Palma, 95 percent of fourth-grade preschool students obtained a place at their first-choice school despite the reduction in zones. The project is currently in the processing phase, with open deadlines for submitting objections, and has reopened the debate on how to balance the right to choose a school with the need for equitable schooling without socioeconomic segregation.