The green tide in defense of public education has gathered at the doors of the Government headquarters of La Rioja (PP) in Logroño to reject the universal scholarship that the Administration wants to give to all students in private high schools, at a rate of 800 euros per year, regardless of their family’s income level or grades obtained. This amount covers 25% of the price at this level, according to the calculations of the Ministry of Education. The measure, called the high school voucher, has a budget of 600,000 euros for the next academic year and around 700 students in this non-compulsory educational cycle in seven institutes in the community: four in Logroño, two in Calahorra and one in Santo Domingo de la Calzada.
“It is money that is taken away from public education for the hiring of teachers, school lunch assistance or early childhood education from 0 to 3 years old,” as stated by the spokesperson for the platform in defense of public schools, Nieves Esteban. A movement that brings together political parties (PSOE and IU), unions (UGT, CCOO, STAR, and STE-Rioja) and family (FAPA Rioja) and student (University Alternative) collectives. With the slogan In defense of public education, against the high school voucher, protesters have chanted slogans like “chaplain listen, public school is in struggle,” in reference to the President of the Government of La Rioja, Gonzalo Capellán, or “public money for public school.”
The current regional government defends this aid for high school, which was suspended during the previous term with the PSOE and Podemos in charge, to advance in the “free education from 0 to 18 years,” as reiterated on several occasions by the Minister of Education, Alberto Galiana. From the platform, they respond that “high school is already free in public schools,” while they ensure that “the public network has enough places” to meet decreasing demand due to the impact of low birth rates in classrooms. In fact, this movement in defense of public education fears that this may be “the first step before providing high school in private centers,” according to Esteban. At this time, only one center in La Rioja, Jesuits in Logroño, enjoys this condition. Protesters threaten an escalation in the intensity of the demonstrations if these measures are implemented by the PP Government, as they did 10 years ago when the green tide led different protests in La Rioja in support of public schools.
La Rioja, where this scholarship existed until the previous term, joins the Community of Madrid, which until now was the only region where the high school voucher for private schools existed, although in Madrid there is an income limit: families earning more than 100,000 euros can apply for the voucher. The Basque Country, Andalusia, and Castilla y León also provide scholarships or co-finance with families for Early Childhood Education, High School, or Middle and Higher Vocational Training in private centers, but the three autonomous communities apply a different criterion for calculating the income threshold, which favors the lower ones.
