Christian schools in Norway demand investigation after a government mistake
The cuts would mean that schools have to lay off staff and possibly have to close. Photo ANP, Marcel van Hoorn
Northern Europe
A new calculation method by the Norwegian government for subsidies would put Christian schools in financial trouble, was the news for a few weeks. Now, it appears the government did not adequately inform the schools.
The presentation of the state budget on October 6 caused a stir among Christian free schools. At the time, the government said it could cut some 51.5 million Norwegian Kroner (4.3 million euros) by adopting a new calculation method, thereby cutting schools' subsidies. Within five years, that cut would add up to some 42 million euros.
For Christian free schools, among others, that would be a disaster. "It is very serious and will mean that schools must lay off staff. We also imagine that schools will have to close because of this", said Sidsel Høland Olausson to the Norwegian Christian daily Vårt Land. Ms Høland Olausson is the acting general secretary of the Association of Christian Free Schools (KFF).
According to the government, the schools were warned on time that this new calculation would happen. In January 2022, to be precise. And yet, the Ministry of Education claims it did not get any response from schools.
The reason for that silence now becomes clear: the warning was never sent to the schools. "We now see, after carrying out further investigations, that it was the report from February that was shared with the organisations, not the report from January", the Ministry states to Vårt Land. "We apologise that this was not presented correctly, and the Ministry of Education will write a letter to the Storting (Norwegian Parliament, ed.) and draw attention to the error."
Dialogue
However, that is not enough, says the Conservative Party's Jan Tore Sanner. He believes the government should withdraw the cut proposal. "This shows that the independent school organisations are right, and the government is wrong. The proposal is obviously poorly researched and made without any dialogue with the independent schools' organisations. Now the government should withdraw the proposal and come up with an adjustment in the budget", he says to Vårt Land.
Christian school organisations react critically toward the error. According to Helge Vatne, acting general secretary of the Association of Christian Free Schools, the current report does not provide a sufficient basis for the government's cuts.
Ivar Christian Smit, general manager of the Steinerskoleforbundet, believes that this is a "procedural error, and then this should no longer apply either. Now they should postpone the proposal and start again, and this time include us in the sector so that we can get a fair arrangement."
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