The Diputació de Barcelona denounces that the “real” price per place, with the increase in the price of supplies, amounts to between 7,500 and 8,000 euros, well above the 5,800 calculated by the Department
The Barcelona Provincial Council has denounced this Wednesday that the real price per child in a municipal nursery, with the increase in the price of supplies, amounts to between 7,500 and 8,000 euros, well above the 5,800 calculated by the Department. A question that is now put on the table to influence the negotiation of the budgets. “The price of a place per student has increased by almost 1,000 eurosand in the 2020-2021 academic year was already at 6,974 euros. These are the objective data, it is reality”, points out the deputy president of the Education area of the Diputació de Barcelona, Josep Monras, who also indicates that the follow-up commission that had to be made on the matter has not met.
when the Department of Education determined the gratuity, the city councils without exception, consistories of all the parties, already warned of the risks. “The 5,800 euros that the Department calculates are not real figures. They are outdated numbers. They are not calculating energy bills, cleaning… which falls on the town councils”, continues the deputy, who recalls that in Catalonia there are 926 public 0-3 centers, of which only 42 nurseries are from the Generalitat, the vast majority are from the municipalities.
The financing framework agreement of the Generalitat with the municipal entities, signed on April 1, 2022, is based on a price of 5,893 euros. According to the data of the Diputació Intermunicipal Comparison Circles from Barcelona made public this Wednesday, this cost was already the course prior to the signing of 1,081 euros higher.
Inability to absorb demand
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The Diputación also points out that there has been a demand increase of 20% that could not be assumed because there are not the necessary places, discomfort that has fallen on the town halls (when a family asks for a place in their town hall and does not get it, the one who complains is to their town hall, not to the Generalitat). “In addition, the typology of families has changed, and many city councils have had to increase resources for special educational needs. Specifically, in a very large municipality in the province of Barcelona, the number of staff has increased by 220% as a whole of nurseries. Specific educational needs in early childhood have skyrocketed, not just economic“, continues the president of the Department of Education of the Diputació, who insists that The P-2 is not being universalized because there are not enough places.
“Where are the new jobs that should have been increased with the 111 million European funds? I don’t know”, asks the deputy, who warns that there are small town halls that are telling them that next year they will hand over the keys from their nurseries to the Department because they can’t hold the situation.