Parties demand emergency aid for threatened village schools

Several small village schools in Zealand and Lolland are at risk of closure as municipalities prepare budget cuts, DR reports. The Alternative and the Denmark Democrats are calling on the government to provide more help to municipalities.

Municipalities across Denmark are currently presenting savings plans of 50 million, 70 million, 100 million kroner or more as they negotiate next year’s budgets. Schools in the municipalities of Faxe, Næstved and Lolland are among those at risk because of their low pupil numbers.

“You pull the plug on a village when you close its school,” said Susie Jessen, political spokesperson for the Denmark Democrats.

The government earlier this week distributed 1 billion kroner to 22 municipalities through a special grant fund aimed largely at rural municipalities. But Jessen and Elise Sydendal, the Alternative’s spokesperson for rural districts, say the money is not enough.

The Alternative is proposing an emergency financial package earmarked for schools threatened with closure. The Denmark Democrats want to set aside 500 million kroner in the national budget alongside the party’s rural development plan.

“If they really care about rural districts, it is important that they live up to what is stated in the government’s programme. They need to act now, because the schools are threatened with closure now,” Jessen said.

One of the schools at risk is the Hyllinge branch of Vesterlandsskolen, a school near Næstved. The branch has previously appeared on the municipality’s savings plan but has so far avoided closure.

It is now on the list again, a development that concerns Karina Ladanberg Wolan, chair of Vesterlandsskolen’s school board and the mother of a boy at the Hyllinge branch.

“It is extremely unsettling to choose a school when you do not know whether your child will actually be allowed to attend it throughout their school years,” she said.

Ladanberg Wolan acknowledged that running a school with few pupils can be expensive and that cutting it may appear to offer quick savings. But she said village schools can provide something special for some pupils, including those struggling at school or at risk of refusing to attend.

Economic and Interior Minister Pia Olsen Dyhr of the Socialist People’s Party said the government currently has no additional money for municipalities under pressure in the school sector. She said the 1 billion kroner package was both historically large and targeted at rural municipalities.

“We are taking measures to protect our village schools, but we cannot solve everything in one go. Fortunately, we have four years, and it is our clear wish to do more to preserve our village schools,” Dyhr said.

She said the issue was not only about schools, but also about maintaining life in villages through local services, leisure activities and opportunities to continue living outside larger towns.