Schools: four regions take a stand against the Government: “Excluded from funding for ATA substitute staff”

“The Meloni Government has excluded Tuscany, Emilia-Romagna, Umbria and Sardinia from the €19 million earmarked for temporary substitute ATA staff. The reason is that these regions did not carry out their own school reorganisation. It is a pity that the school restructuring was carried out anyway through the administrative receivership imposed by the government.” This was stated in a press release by the regional councillors for education: Alessandra Nardini of Tuscany; Fabio Barcaioli of Umbria; Ilaria Portas of Sardinia; and Isabella Conti of Emilia-Romagna.

“It is here,” they continue, “that all administrative excuses fall flat. Schools have been resized, but are being deprived of the resources needed to cope with the consequences. It is not the regions that are being punished, but their schools, staff and the communities that ensure the delivery of public services every day. In this way, the Meloni Government is acting on its punitive impulses, turning school funding into a tool to target those who have not fallen into line with its decisions. It is a conception of power that demands obedience and uses public resources as a reward or a form of retaliation. Minister Valditara should explain why the appointment of a temporary ATA staff member should depend on the procedure by which a region has undergone school consolidation. There is no reason, in terms of how schools operate, that justifies this discrimination. We call for this shameful exclusion to be lifted immediately. Resources must go to the schools that need them, not just to those local authorities that the Government considers politically compliant.”