The impact of the municipal deficit
Palau de Santa Eulàlia City Council has announced the closure of the school and nursery school due to an accumulated deficit of 124,000.89 euros, which represents half of the municipal budget. This decision is part of the need to cut services to reduce the debt and avoid generating more deficit.
Sanitation plan and background
The city council had already received a request from the financial guardianship of the Generalitat in 2021 to draw up a sanitation plan, but this was not carried out by the previous council. Now, a new clean-up plan is being drawn up, and one of the planned measures is the closure of educational services.
Closure planning
Despite the seriousness of the economic situation, the closure of the school and nursery school will be postponed until the 2026-2027 school year to avoid the return of subsidies received. This decision is based on the low local enrollment and the fact that 40% of the students come from other municipalities with educational services.
Final considerations
The council points out that the educational center was opened as a pilot plan, but the village has other schools nearby. In addition, he argues that the low local birth rate does not justify maintaining these educational services, since the majority of students come from municipalities with an educational offer.
