Coalition and opposition agree on education budget, but criticism still abounds

The coalition parties have reached an agreement with four opposition parties on weakening the planned education cuts by 748 million euros. After weeks of discussions, they also agreed on alternative cuts to other ministries to pay for the relaxations. This means that there is almost certainly a majority in favor of the government’s plans in the Senate.

CDA leader Bontenbal said afterwards that part of the coverage will be obtained from the Ministry of Health. For example, medical specialists will have to pay a higher contribution for further training and further training. Something is also being done about “excess” in the salaries of specialists.

In total, VWS must hand in 215 million euros. The opposition parties had focused on lowering the deductible in healthcare, but this was unacceptable, especially for the coalition party PVV. In the election campaign and formation, that party has advocated a lower deductible.

173 million euros will also be cut in so-called administrative costs of various ministries. Bontenbal mentioned official cars as an example.

Furthermore, less money (75 million euros) goes to the public transport student card. According to the parties, students do not notice this. Because there are fewer students and they travel less since corona, that amount was still on the shelf.

Bontenbal is relieved. “At some point you want to achieve something or put an end to it. It is still not our budget, but we have made a bad budget less bad.”

PVV leader Wilders is also satisfied. “The education budget has been saved. We can live with this.” He called the additional cuts in other ministries “acceptable items”.

Last week, PVV, VVD, NSC, BBB, CDA, SGP, ChristenUnie and JA21 agreed on canceling a significant part of the intended two billion euros in cuts to education. It was agreed, among other things, that the late student fine will not be introduced and that the social service period will continue to exist.

Cuts in teacher salaries will also be reversed and 40 million euros will be invested in scientific research,

Negotiations about financial coverage have taken place in recent days. These conversations were initially very difficult. Yesterday it was said from various quarters that today would be a make or break situation. According to insiders, the coalition parties made a new offer this morning, which was more popular with the opposition parties.

Four opposition parties have therefore thrown the coalition a lifeline. Yet the faction leaders of CDA, SGP, ChristenUnie and JA21 do not want to be seen as ‘tolerating partners’ of the Schoof cabinet.

“I am not here to keep the coalition afloat,” said Christian Union party leader Bikker. “I am here to improve the Education Budget.”

Other opposition parties are extremely dissatisfied with the new education budget. GroenLinks-PvdA, DENK, PvdD and the SP, among others, point out that more than one billion euros are still being cut. Several parties speak of a historical mistake.

Organizations in education are also unhappy about the cuts. Student union LSVb, for example, believes the permanent cutbacks of 1.2 billion euros are far too much. According to the union, the cutbacks will result in the disappearance of training courses and the dismissal of teachers. Future generations would suffer from this. The only thing the LSVb is satisfied with is that the late student fine is off the table.

“Scientific research is the big loser of this deal. That is particularly bad for the future of the Netherlands, because knowledge is our most important raw material,” says chairman Caspar van den Berg of the Umbrella Organization of the Universities of the Netherlands. He says that universities will continue to resist the cuts.

Now that an agreement has been reached, the House of Representatives could vote tomorrow on all budgets of the Schoof cabinet for 2025. After that, the Senate must also approve the plans. The cabinet does not have an automatic majority there, but the deal with the four opposition parties has now almost certainly resolved that problem.