They did not lose a lot of students. They also had no vacant positions. Nevertheless, the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports cut their money for 4.5 full-time jobs. The Vsetín Secondary School of Mechanical Engineering has already had to say goodbye to one employee.
“We had a lot to worry about. Unfortunately, I had to dismiss one workforce and the other three had to reduce their working hours,” explains the school’s director Miroslav Václavík, explaining that the school now has to manage without one cleaning lady.
They have a problem with converting money. It can make a significant dent in school funding if the number of pupils drops even by just a few individuals from year to year. Together with the ministerial cut, it is a difficult situation to solve.
“We were saved by the school canteen, where we have an increase in performance. That’s why it wasn’t so terrible. Otherwise, I would have to fire another two and a half people,” adds Václavík.
At the same time, of course, the school will not shrink from year to year. They have to clean up anyway. The complications that the janitor deals with will definitely not decrease either.
Teachers as school sponsors
Originally, Minister of Education Mikuláš Bek (STAN) claimed that only vacant places in schools would be cut in the search for savings. Later, however, there were also those occupied with the postscript that the schools would be allowed to ask the regions for additional funding.
But they don’t provide that money – with exceptions – on the grounds that schools have enough money for teachers, which can be used to finance cleaners or janitors.
“Of course, the negotiation process turned out to be that we are not entitled and we have to make our own decisions,” says the director of ZŠ Husitská in Nová Paca, Zdeněk Burkert.
They didn’t exactly lay off there, but only thanks to the fact that the teachers will basically sponsor building maintenance or accounting from their salaries. Smaller schools in particular cannot afford to lose their non-pedagogues, because they now have so few of them that it is barely enough to cover all the work.
“I fired one cleaning workforce. And I have to think about further streamlining. We will probably have to reduce the school section as well,” considers Ilona Němcová, director of the Jan Palach Gymnasium in Mělník.
Even the Mělník school was not given the opportunity to finance the deleted positions from the regional reserve. Although she didn’t have any vacancies, and thus lost two “live” jobs.
The cantors will not receive the promised increase
The list of reports dealt with the budget situation of schools with two dozen principals. Everyone felt the cuts to some extent. If they did not resort to dismissals, the cuts will always be felt by the teachers in the form of lower salaries.
At the same time, last year the current government made a legislative commitment to keep teachers’ salaries at 130 percent of the average gross wage in the economy. On average, teachers should have improved by 2,500 crowns this year. None of the goals, the first of which is also in the government’s program statement, will certainly not be met. That is already clear today.
“The announced 2,500 crowns per teacher is a bit of a virtual amount. It will be used to pay extra for non-pedagogues or incompetent women. When we calculated it like that, realistically the cantors will be at 112 to 115 percent,” estimates Milena Honsová, principal of Havlíčkobrod elementary school V Sadych.
First notices to teachers
At the same time, schools are also facing another shock, namely a reduction in the number of teaching hours, which will be paid for by the Ministry from the budget. This means less room for dividing lessons, individualizing teaching or tandem teaching.
“Unfortunately, we have to say goodbye to three teachers at the end of June,” explains Štefan Klíma, director of the Secondary Pedagogical School and the Secondary Vocational School of Services in Mladá Boleslav.
The change in teaching funding will apply from the beginning of the next school year. School principals are so worried about what the budgets will look like next year. They assume that they will be even more tense.
