This is called putting out the fire after blowing on the embers. Faced with the outcry over the cancellation of teachers’ overtime, the executive made an about-face. In a press release published this Wednesday, May 1, the Ministry of National Education announced that it had given the green light for “academies to recover the budgetary resources initially notified in order to continue the allocation of overtime in establishments.”
A backpedal which should close a sequence opened at the start of the week. Monday April 29, all school management staff receive an email from their academy. “In application of the decree […] of February 21 canceling credits, a measure to reduce overtime allocations and allowances for special missions was notified. That same evening, school heads no longer have access to the overtime management application .
Very quickly, indignation mounts. “Panic” too, confided the next day the boss of the main union of school heads, SNPDEN, Bruno Bobkiewicz, who denounced the absence of dialogue. “There is a real breakdown in trust and a questioning of our autonomy.” And to explain to our colleagues from Echoes : “This envelope is used and thought about over the year, we do not improvise week after week”. More generally, the unions warned of the risks of a deterioration in the provision of support for students. “The government is not assuming its political responsibility to explain to the population what services can no longer be provided,” adds the SGEN-CFDT, the third largest union force among management personnel.
Rising expenses
As a reminder, these additional hours are used to provide refresher courses for students during vacation periods, replacements, homework help or even academic support time. According to a report published by Depp (the Department of Evaluation, Foresight and Performance), almost three quarters of teachers would have done at least one hour of respite per week for the 2022-2023 school year. An increase of almost 7 million euros, the budget allocated to additional time reached 333 million euros in 2023
A sum allocated to the various educational establishments which manage the redistribution of remuneration for overtime worked. The budget cuts initially envisaged by rue de Grenelle were thus specifically aimed at this envelope, as well as “the allowances for special missions” used to remunerate teachers who have carried out missions outside of teaching time, such as sports workshops. and cultural.
Budget cuts
Behind this 180°C turn by the government lies the shadow of the public deficit. Last February, the executive announced that it would cut its operating budget by some 10 billion euros. And like other ministerial portfolios, National Education is not spared. The Hôtel de Rochechouart is ordered to return 83 million euros to Bercy. Although this cut only corresponds to “1% of our budget which amounts to 66 billion euros […] we must […] make choices”, then evaded the Minister of National Education Nicole Belloubet, who could have concluded with the adage “to choose is to give up”.
By eliminating overtime available in the third quarter of the 2023-2024 school year, and in the first quarter of the 2024-2025 year, the ministry hoped to save nearly 100 million euros. Savings that Nicole Belloubet must now find elsewhere…