Cutbacks and their effects on the canton's special schools

It is this summer and autumn that special schools will be renegotiating their performance agreements with the canton, with previously imposed cutbacks now having a noticeably increased deleterious effect on them, not least with regard to staffing.   
 

As of August 2018 there were eight special schools involved in the education of children of compulsory school age in the canton, namely the Remedial School of the City of Zug, the Horbach boarding and day school, the Sonnenberg Remedial School and Advisory Centre in Baar (photograph), and Zug Remedial Services. In addition, there is the Remedial School in Hünenberg, the Dr Bossard private school, the Zurich Speech Therapy School Foundation and the Schulplus organisation, all in the Aegeri Valley. As a result of cuts already imposed since 2015, contributions to these schools were reduced on average by 10 per cent. While initially they coped, it is clear that now they are coming under increased financial pressure, as Simon Saxer, the vice-chairman of the Teachers’ Association of the canton of Zug pointed out, not least in relation to staffing matters, as mentioned.

As a result of the forthcoming negotiations relating to performance agreements, none of the schools wanted to say precisely what effect further cuts would have on them, though Saxer pointed out that worse employment conditions would apply in the case of teachers at private schools, compared with state schools, possibly leading to a greater changeover in staff, and that it would become more difficult for them to find appropriately qualified staff, the employment conditions differing from those governing teachers in municipal schools. This also meant staff at special schools would be employed according to the Swiss Code of Obligations, leading to worse conditions when it came to dismissal, for example. The cutbacks could also lead to larger class sizes and increased class time for teachers, yet with no increase in salary.

When a journalist of the Zuger Zeitung contacted some of the headteachers of the afore-mentioned schools, they realised that they would have to tighten their belts and would be looking to new ways of ensuring they stayed in the black, such as through fundraising, whilst endeavouring to maintain their quality standards at the same time.

When asked about this matter, the cantonal director of education, Stephan Schleiss, said, somewhat reassuringly, that no cutbacks should be made at the expense of those who were the least able to bear them, adding that he had been aware of the increasing financial burden faced by such schools and the greater needs of the children and young people who attended them.