Bonuses for schools for the extra work involved in the NRRP

Carrying out the PNRR projects has not been a straightforward task for schools, both because of the number of projects to be undertaken and the skills that needed to be developed. With this in mind, and with a view to the completion and monitoring phase of the investments launched under the Recovery Plan, the schools decree currently under consideration by the Senate provides for a series of ‘compensations’ for the extra workload associated with the Recovery and Resilience Plan. Starting with headteachers, but not limited to them.

Of the 14 million allocated by Article 7(1) of Decree-Law 170 to the Single National Fund for School Management (FUN), the first nine million are intended to ensure that headteachers receive a total remuneration at least equivalent to that set for the 2024/2025 school year; the remaining 5 million – relating solely to 2026 – are instead earmarked for recognising the ‘commitment and responsibility borne by school management in relation to activities connected with the imminent conclusion of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR), including project reporting procedures’. As highlighted in the technical report accompanying the measure, which also provides an overview of the commitment that the Recovery and Resilience Plan has entailed for schools.

The document notes that schools have managed a total of over 65,000 PNRR projects, each assigned a unique CUP reference number, which have been duly recorded on the MIM platform and transferred to the ReGis platform. The total value of the projects managed by schools is approximately 5.5 billion. Each school has managed an average of around 8.70 projects, amounting to an average of over 650,000 euros – a figure that is by no means insignificant given the budgetary figures a school typically handles. Furthermore, in managing the ‘Scuola 4.0’ investment projects – which has enabled the transformation of over 156,000 classrooms into innovative learning environments and the creation of over 7,700 laboratories – schools have had to organise numerous tenders and public procurement procedures in accordance with the Public Contracts Code. Hence the need to allocate an additional 5 million, which, divided amongst the 7,471 headteachers involved, amounts to approximately 669 euros per person.

In the following paragraphs of Article 7 – in addition to extending and refinancing the MIM working groups (comprising around 70 staff members, including administrative assistants, who will be replaced by temporary staff, ed.) which will support the PNRR mission units, themselves extended until 31 August 2029 - allows the ministry in Viale Trastevere to draw on a maximum of six experts, possessing specific and high-level expertise, within an overall spending limit not exceeding 420,000 euros per year. Training teams will also continue to operate until 2029, comprising a further 120 teachers and ATA staff to be replaced on fixed-term contracts.

Article 8 also deals with the same issues. On the one hand, by granting an additional allowance to auditors at both the MIM and the MEF (approximately 70 euros for each of the 56,000 projects requiring an interim or final audit) totalling 2.5 million in 2026 and 1.5 million in 2027; on the other hand, it allocates 5 million for overtime for administrative staff, linked to the increase in deadlines and administrative obligations arising from the final stages of the NRRP reforms or from the updating and renewal of provincial rankings for supply teaching posts (GPS). In addition to these funds, a further 1 million is earmarked for secondments and temporary assignments to support the implementation and reporting of Recovery Fund projects in schools.