Final approval for the Education Funding Scheme; 847 million is set to be channelled into schools

The supplementary national collective agreement setting out the criteria for the allocation of the Fund for the Improvement of Educational Provision (Fmof) for the 2025/2026 academic year was formally signed today. The criteria for the allocation of resources, totalling €847.36 million, have been confirmed. The FLC CGIL has announced this, emphasising that the signing comes “almost ten months after the draft agreement was signed and following certification of economic and financial compatibility by the State General Accounting Office”.

The contract allocates 844.36 million to the Fund’s standard items (School Fund, specific tasks for ATA staff, overtime, staff development) and sets aside a further 3 million euros to ensure the continuity of education in schools on small islands. In addition to these measures, specific resources from the school’s fund are also earmarked for ATA staff working on small islands. During the meeting, the FLC CGIL called for the prompt allocation of funds to educational institutions, “so as to enable the immediate payment of the remuneration due to teachers and ATA staff, highlighting how, once again, these delays fall on administrative staff, who are forced to manage payment operations during the holiday period”. The administration accepted the request, “undertaking to arrange for the allocation of the funds to schools as early as today, immediately following the final signing”.

“Gilda Unams was the only trade union present at the negotiating table that did not sign the supplementary agreement on resources and their allocation. We reiterate our opposition to all the critical issues raised and, in particular, to the failure to accept our proposal to specify an allocation criterion based on the actual numbers of teaching staff and ATA staff”. The union explains this in a statement. However, the signature was provided, it states, ‘with a significant delay, meaning that payment for additional work reaches schools a year after the work was carried out’. Payment of the remuneration could be made as early as the end of August, subject to the organisational difficulties faced by schools during the summer period. Allocation based on the actual number of staff, the union concludes, “would have been a fair and transparent solution to prevent disputes in schools and to eliminate the frequent disparities between different educational institutions. We also reiterate our demand: the funds should be incorporated into salaries, moving beyond the ‘supplementary payment’ model.”