Saxony receives 43 million from the Startchancen program

The federal and state governments are launching a multi-billion euro program to support schools in difficult social environments. As the Saxon Ministry of Culture announced on Friday after a special conference of heads of department, the Free State will receive around 43.4 million euros per year. The federal government intends to provide up to one billion euros annually for the so-called Startchancen program. The federal states are to contribute the same amount.

Saxony wants to start the program with a double-digit number of primary and secondary schools. The selection is currently being prepared, it said. According to the specifications of the federal-state agreement, 180 Saxon schools are to be involved in the future.

According to the ministry, the funds will be divided almost equally between three pillars of the program. On the one hand, it is about funding investments for the design of a learning-promoting and barrier-free environment. Secondly, there are to be so-called opportunity budgets for schools, which can then largely decide on the use of the funds themselves. The third funding priority is intended to establish multi-professional teams in schools.

"It is good that the federal government has finally been able to reach an agreement with the federal states. Now we have to make sure that the program also provides targeted support for pupils' learning performance and learning environments. The focus is particularly on promoting basic skills in reading, writing and arithmetic," said Minister of Education Christian Piwarz (CDU). This is why more will be invested in elementary school. However, secondary schools should not be neglected either. The timetable for implementation is very ambitious and expectations may be too high.

Piwarz does not want to use the term "hotspot school" in this context. "I don't use the term because it implies stigmatization. We are talking about schools with special challenges and in special locations," said the minister recently. In fact, there is more work to be done there due to the composition of the student body and major differences in development.