News that the national decree on the funding of educational institutions was published came as Parliament continued a plenary session on the lump-sum system requested by the National Alliance (NA) faction that was again adjourned on May 27, having already been suspended on May 20. It sets clear criteria and guidelines regarding the subsidy process in primary, secondary and advanced vocational education.
That probably won’t help Foundation for Academic and Vocational Education (FAVE) and secondary education school board VSBO much. They say the current subsidy system threatens their finances and negatively affects the quality of education.
Education Minister Wycliffe Smith told elected representatives the subsidy specifically covers all personnel cost, so, for example, cancelling vacation allowances to save money would be misappropriation of taxpayer’s money. If there are nevertheless issues with making payroll the ministry remains open to discuss options to remedy these.
During the first part of the debate the minister stated that the subsidy per student had in fact gone up from 10,370 Netherlands Antilles guilders in the schoolyear 2013-2014 to NAf. 11,353 for 2015-2016. The reason FAVE and SVBO are seeing declines in their student populations is a shift from VSBO/PSVE school types to academic education and education with a focus on the arts provided by the relative newcomers Methodist Agogic Centre Comprehensive Secondary Education and Charlotte Brookson Academy of the Performance Arts.
Still, the subsidy based on how many students are enrolled is not without problems. When their numbers go down, schools struggle to adjust, keeping in mind that certain expenses don’t depend on how full the classrooms are.
Curaçao’s Roman Catholic Central School Board RKCS, the biggest on the island, just announced it would have to close Stella Maris School in Dein and accommodate its remaining students at Pierre Lauffer College and Ignatius College, while Stella Maris VSBO at Montaña will merge with Regina Pacis School in the same area.
NA leader Silveria Jacobs had earlier suggested that merging schools may be something which can be looked at in St. Maarten. Although there are obviously plenty of drawbacks, in certain cases there may be no viable option but to try to make the best out of a bad situation.
