7,000 job cuts in schools spark growing protests

Buried within the 2027 Budget Bill is a new cut of around 7,000 staff posts – comprising teachers and ATA staff – which comes on top of the further 8,000 already provided for in the 2025 Budget. This move is also causing controversy due to its timing. For whilst it is true that the reduction is based on the falling birth rate – which is causing us to lose 110,000–120,000 pupils a year – it is equally true that the measure comes at the very same time as the many student demonstrations taking place across Italia and Europe, where students are calling for more resources for education.

It is no coincidence that, as we shall see, the criticism levelled by trade unions and the opposition in the aftermath of the budget focused precisely on schools, as well as on pensions and the regions. But let us take things in order. Given that, in the give-and-take of the budget negotiations, the education sector might ultimately secure more funding than this year, the symbolic significance of the ‘cut’ to staffing levels risks overshadowing everything else.

More specifically, Article 66 of the Budget Bill reduces the staffing levels in the autonomous school system, with effect from the 2027/28 academic year, by 4,925 teachers and 2,049 technical and administrative staff, in addition to the 5,660 fewer teachers in the 2025/26 academic year and the 2,174 technical and administrative staff lost in the current academic year. These new cuts, as set out in the technical report, will yield savings of 252 million euros once fully implemented in 2028.

Turning to the positive side – alongside energy efficiency measures (primarily air-conditioning units and heat pumps) in schools, totalling 650 million over three years (150 in 2027 and 250 in both 2028 and 2029) and which we have reported on in recent days in this newspaper – we must also take into account the 30 million in refinancing allocated in the budget for Higher Technical Institutes (ITS), divided into three annual instalments of 10 million per year for 2027, 2028 and 2029. Also included are the 20 million for the renewal of the 1,500-euro ‘paritarie’ bonus for families with an ISEE of up to 30,000 euros, and an additional 3 million to tackle educational poverty.

As mentioned, the focus of the trade unions and the opposition has been primarily on the education sector. The General Secretary of the CISL, Daniela Fumarola, has expressed ‘strong opposition’ to staff cuts and is calling for them to be withdrawn: what is needed is ‘investment and staff, starting with teachers and ATA staff’. If the cuts are confirmed, she warns, the trade union will support “all necessary mobilisation efforts by the sector”. The PD takes a similar line: according to Senate group leader Francesco Boccia, “billions are found for defence, whilst savings are sought for schools”.