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A few days ago, education politicians from all parties clashed against each other: the coalition had reached an agreement with the FDP and the United States. the Greens on the change of the controversial article of the Basic Law, very controversial, and therefore on a relaxation of the prohibition of cooperation imposed by the federal and state governments.
This agreement, between the CDU / CSU, the SPD, the FDP and the Greens, should pave the way for a multi-billion dollar investment program in digital equipment schools: five billion euros from here 2023 for WLAN networks, tablets or teacher training. The federal government must provide 90%, with the remaining tenths contributing to the federal states.
As of January 1, the declared intention, the money should flow. The Federal Council is expected to vote on the constitutional amendment on 14 December. The basic law should be changed because education is a state affair, the federal government is not responsible for it. The coalition needs a two-thirds majority in the Bundestag and the Bundesrat.
If the approval of the state chamber last week was still quite certain, a real protest is now being prepared. In particular, the education ministries led by the Conservatives are clearly skeptical about the project.
Reason for the problems: according to the "amendment of the budget of the working groups", the factions of the Bundestag did not agree on the widely communicated reformulation of paragraph 104c. In the fine print, there are even more adjustments. Thus, Article 104b also needs to be partially recast – and it meets with some of the country's ministers in protest.
"All surprised"
"The federal funds must be supplemented by the same amount of public funds for the corresponding investment area," the newspaper said. This means that if the federal government invests in education in the future, federal states will have to contribute 50% of the costs, instead of 10% as in the digital compact. However, in order not to jeopardize the prestige project, this sharing should only apply to such arrangements that came into effect after December 31, 2019.
"The change of the 104b has all surprised us – and makes the situation considerably worse," said Susanne Eisenmann, Minister of Culture of Baden-Württemberg and coordinator of the Ministries of Education of the countries of the Union.
A few weeks ago, his Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann (Greens) had announced that he would not accept the constitutional amendment. "And thanks to the bilateral discussions, we now know that in these circumstances, many countries have the most serious concerns and therefore also wonder if they adhere to our position". The amendment of the Basic Law was a "frontal attack on educational federalism".
"This proposal is anything but a progress in education between the federal government and the states," said Karin Prien, Education Minister of the CDU in Schleswig-Holstein. "Here, unilaterally at the expense of states and municipalities, the commercial basis for future co-financing in the education sector is changed." Such a radical change in the constitution, "secretly and discreetly," is not a good procedure. The price is too high. "This will require intensive negotiations with the countries," said Minister Kiel. The digital compact must also be renegotiated. "The calendar is likely to be difficult."
Ties Rabe, Senator of Education in Hamburg and coordinator of education and science in the SPD – led countries, wishes to stick to the constitutional amendment despite everything. "It did not go well, so I do not question the whole project," says Rabe. "Schools need money and technical progress, and the federal and state governments should overcome their conflicts in this direction."
The details of the planned digitization in schools will be defined by the federal and regional governments in an agreement to be signed on December 6th. The Federal Council is expected to vote on the constitutional amendment on 14 December.
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