The Government of the Community of Madrid, chaired by Isabel Díaz Ayuso, activated at the end of 2023 a provision of the educational master law negotiated with Vox that obliges all centers financed with public funds (which includes subsidized private ones) to advertise on its website its ideology, the cost of extracurricular and complementary activities and, in a “comprehensive” way, the theme of those last appointments and the external organizations that collaborate with them. The rule was approved in the last legislature, when the PP governed in a minority and had to accept amendments from the ultra party, which has been unsuccessfully demanding since 2019 the application in the region of an educational parental veto that allows parents to decide what they are taught. to his children. Schools have until January 31 to publish all this data in a specific section on the website with the heading “Information for families”, and the Educational Inspection will ensure that they comply with the standard.
“This is the application of one of the amendments that we made in the educational law, whose objective was to increase the transparency of what happens in the centers, so that parents know not only what their children are giving, but also the results of each center,” explains a Vox source, who recalls that the rule also requires the results of external tests such as the EBAU or those evaluating the English-Spanish bilingual program to be disclosed. “It is very important to promote educational freedom,” she emphasizes. “Each parent, depending on the content, will have more freedom to choose (…). AND [también] each student,” he adds, referring to the fact that students can thus know which centers obtain the best results in their study profile. “It is also intended that parents are not surprised by the cost of their children’s activities or extracurricular activities, and that there is some control over the courses they receive. “Let us parents know what our children are doing, because many times we do not have information.”
Although the Círculo de Calidad Educativa (CICAE), which brings together independent private centers, and other interested parties also registered amendments focused on improving the transparency of centers that receive public funds, the text finally approved in 2022 practically mirrors the one that was registered and negotiated. Vox.
Since it made a place in regional politics, back in 2019, this party has been demanding the application of a parental veto that allows parents to preventively control the content that is taught to their children. Díaz Ayuso has always flatly refused to activate it, defending the autonomy of the centers and the authority of the teachers, although he relented by accepting that the list of extracurricular activities of each center be advertised before the start of the course so that families can decide. “if they continue or change.”
The complementary activities expand areas and subjects of the official curriculum of each center. Therefore, specific ones are possible, such as visits to museums, or the theater, workshops, talks and conferences; and stable ones, such as foreign language conversation classes, robotics, technology, or reinforcement classes.
The new provision, published in the middle of Christmas, requires giving “exhaustive information on the [actividades complementarias] planned for the current course: title of the activity, courses for which it is intended, date, content and, where applicable, collaborating organizations.
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That last mention is not a minor detail, since Vox has always focused on the organizations and external collaborators that come to educational centers. For example, when the Assembly, then chaired by Cs, banned a monologue by Pamela Palenciano once morest sexist violence, Vox used it as an example of what might be done in educational centers thanks to the parental veto.
More transparency in prices
“With the publication of this resolution, the Master Law is complied with and with it, all educational centers obtain all the information and transparency when it comes to publicly exposing the organization and operating documents,” explains a spokesperson. of the regional government. “Families have to be informed once they are part of an educational center, or so that they can freely choose the center they want for their children if they participate in the admission process,” he argues. “With the publication of all this documentation, transparency, good practices and the work of the entire educational community are promoted.”
All of these measures are mandatory in centers that receive public funds, although the ideology is specific for private subsidized centers, which will only have to publish the required information regarding courses that are financed or subsidized by the Administration. . In this way, for example, it will be clear what complementary and extracurricular activities cost.
“At CICAE we have been asking for years for more transparency in the financing and information that charter schools offer their families,” explains Elena Cid, general director of this association of pure private schools. “The report on fees and charges that we present annually reflects the great difficulties that families have in knowing both the costs and contents of complementary activities, extracurricular activities, complementary services or fees for any other issue,” she adds. “We consider it to be an excellent opportunity for transparency and we applaud the administration’s regulations in defense of families, so that they can truly have detailed information regarding the educational center that best suits their needs,” she explains. And he emphasizes: “We trust that the centers comply with the regulations and publish on their websites all the activities, which by law are voluntary, and their prices, given that compulsory education must be free as it is paid for with public funds.”
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