Bavaria Struggling to Completely Withdraw Permanent Financing
In a push to expand full-day care for schoolchildren, the President of the Gemeindetag, Uwe Brandl (CSU), has advocated for municipalities to plan expansions without strict guidance from district governments. However, the state of Bavaria has only claimed 1.3% of the approximately 461 million euros received from the federal government for this purpose, as of the end of July.
According to the latest data, 112 million euros have been approved for the expansion of full-day care, with plans to claim 21.3% of the total funding. The SPD education politician Simone Strohmayer has criticised the slow pace of funding distribution, stating that the funds have not been brought to the schools in Bavaria.
Every second primary school child in Bavaria already participates in an afternoon offer, including open full-day, bound full-day, after-school care, or lunch supervision. Yet, bureaucratic hurdles and other factors may be hindering the full implementation of full-day schooling by the legal claim date of the school year 2026/27.
One of the main obstacles lies in the state's autonomy over education policies. Bavaria, like other German states, has significant control over its education system, and historically, it has preferred more traditional school day models. This preference for half-day schooling and local decision-making may be contributing to the slow adoption of federally-driven full-day schooling expansion.
Additional challenges include infrastructure and staffing issues, parental and community resistance, coordination complexity, and political priorities. Expanding full-day schooling requires sufficient qualified staff, available school facilities, and funding for both construction and ongoing operational costs. In some regions, parents and communities may be resistant to full-day schooling due to preferences for traditional family care patterns or concerns about longer school hours for children.
Aligning federal funding with state plans involves bureaucratic coordination, which can experience delays or partial take-up if localities find the requirements difficult to meet or if funding conditions do not fully match existing state priorities. The Bavarian government may prioritize other educational projects or social services over rapid expansion of full-day school offerings.
In an effort to address these issues, the SPD is calling on the state government to better support municipalities through the district governments to keep track of funding opportunities. District governments in Bavaria have full-day care coordinators available to answer questions about offers for primary school children. The corresponding state funding program for Bavaria has been in effect since September 2023, as part of a 3.5 billion euro investment program for expanding full-day care offers for primary school-aged children, approved by the federal government in 2021.
[1] German Federalism and Education Policies [2] Challenges in Expanding Full-Day Schooling in German States [3] Bavaria's Education System and Full-Day Schooling Expansion [4] Bavaria's Education Funding and Full-Day Schooling Expansion
- Individuals interested in education-and-self-development might find it beneficial to apply for updated information about full-day schooling expansion opportunities in Bavaria, given the ongoing challenges and reforms in the region's education system.
- As the political landscape continues to evolve, it will be essential for advocates ofApply full-day schooling to monitor debates related to general-news, such as education policies and funding distribution, within the context of German Federalism to ensure effective expansion and implementation.
