Big cities running out of school funding: politicians

A number of politicians think that the budget for school buildings should be better distributed between small towns and large cities. There may soon be a shortage of schools in the big cities because more and more people with children move there.

D66 Parliamentarian Paul van Meenen means to put parliamentary questions to State Secretary Sander Dekker of Education about the issue, he told BNR. In January Dekker removed 256 million euros from the budget for school housing because municipalities had 300 million euros left over in the past. "But that was measured across the whole country, but there were also many municipality that used all the money that came in for school buildings. That becomes even more necessary because of the growth of these municipalities. It can not be that children can't go to school in large cities."

The Hague alderman for Education Ingrid van Engelshoven agrees. "We see that the number of children attending school in the big cities continues to grow, but we also see the funds that we receive from the government for school housing and education decreasing." she said to BNR "The solution? Look at where pupil numbers are growing and allow the development of the funds we get to keep pace with that. That is not happening at the moment."

"In primary schools we see a growth of about 6.5 percent in the next five years and a growth of 9 percent in the next 10 years." Amsterdam alderman Simone Kukenheim (D66) said. "This is mainly because the city appears to be a very popular place to raise children. You see that more children are born in the city and that families with children stay in the big city longer. Gradually you will see that the schools will get into trouble. If you translate the growth of the number of pupils, it involves about 236 classrooms."