CIt’s a concern, not entirely unexpected, that is rapidly making the rounds of school secretariats and principal offices throughout Italy: it concerns the planning of school trips. The itineraries dreamed of by students, in fact, risk remaining on paper: educational trips could be skipped or drastically reduced. The reason? Not the lack of funds, but a dense network of new bureaucratic provisions and, above all, a spending ceiling that is putting the imagination and enthusiasm of institutions to the test.
School trips, but also not
The cause of bad mood lies in a ministerial decree which, in fact, brought back strict budget thresholds. Until recently, an Anti-Corruption Authority exemption allowed schools to move with relative autonomy in travel and exchange assignments that exceeded 140,000 euros per year. That exemption expired and the consequence was immediate: the management of contracts exceeding this amount is now reserved only to the so-called “qualified contracting authorities”, a qualification that most schools do not possess.
A wall of 140 thousand euros
For a large high school that includes international experiences, 140,000 euros are very little, compared to the approximately 400 thousand euros around which the average volume of expenditure for educational trips is around in a high school. This regulatory block is transforming the planning of trips into a real exercise of impossible balances, forcing managers to make drastic and often unpopular and painful choices.
From long journeys to the daily route
The fate of the trips, however, is not yet sealed, but their format is in full metamorphosis. In the presidential chambers, we work frantically to “compress” and “redesign” the offer. Fewer long outings, dedicated to fewer classes, more single-day educational trips and without an overnight stay: these are the solutions imagined to stay below the fateful roof.
The Government imposes too low a budget limit on schools for trips and outings. Leaders forced to cut many school trips (Getty)
The race against time and the new priority: quality
The situation is worsened by the absence of immediate solutions. The Ministry plans to make the Regional School Offices qualified contracting authoritiesand even allocated funds for hiring new officials, but the entry into service of these personnel is still in limbo. Not to mention the Consip digital platform for travel procurement, whose operation is expected only by 2026.
In search of balance
While the organization seeks financial balance, another ministerial decree introduces a further element of complexity: tenders for school transport they must now be awarded no longer based on price alone, but according to the best quality/price ratio. A more scrupulous check on bus maintenance and driver qualifications is required. A fundamental step for safety, but which requires additional time and technical skills to the already overburdened school secretariats.
The reorganization train
While definitive clarifications are awaited, school leaders are discussing, seeking creative solutions so as not to leave the children without their well-deserved educational adventure. We abandon buses to orient ourselves on the use of public transportsuch as trains, which are not subject to the same rigid procurement procedures. The result is a patchy Italy, where each school is forced to invent its own strategyin the hope that the educational trip will not become a mere memory of the past.