In Karlstad municipality, there is a redundancy of 180 teaching posts.
A situation that is not unique to the municipality, according to author and school debater Marcus Larsson.
– It looks the same throughout Sweden, in principle, he says.
On Tuesday evening, Tankesmedjan Balan’s founder, also a native of Karlstad, Marcus Larsson, was in his hometown to give a lecture.
For the evening, school lobbyism was served.
– We are trying to describe how competition in the school market creates worse conditions for teachers to do their jobs, he says.
Over the years, he has become one of the most high-profile school debaters in the country.
Much of what he and fellow think tank Åsa Plesner do is about presenting pure facts. Many people know what it looks like, but don’t know how extensive it is.
They often explain how the existing budget affects how working conditions look for teachers and health and care staff.
– It is almost predetermined in politics that they should be pressured to perform more. Politicians can say they are investing, but they are not putting as much more money into the budget as would have been needed to pay wage increases and inflationary costs.
In the school world in particular, it is the teachers and students who find themselves in a bind.
In Karlstad municipality, about 60 teaching positions have been notified, as a result of the cutbacks that are believed to have to be made. In total, they are talking about a redundancy of 180 people.
The situation is not unique to the municipality, says Marcus Larsson.
– It looks the same throughout Sweden, in principle. It is about high cost increases, inflation, slightly fewer children in schools and politicians not fully compensating in the budget as needed.
He believes that the latter has occurred in the municipality in recent years.
– Then you have lived on saved funds and taken from your coffers. What you have in the bank, you could say. And so you can’t do it anymore, and now you have to start cutting back. Part of it is the change in student numbers and part is that you don’t compensate in the budget.
And this is how it looks to continue, there is simply a lack of money.
The ruling politicians in the municipality went to the election to invest in the school.
– There is no way in the world to calculate it and come to the conclusion that you have done it. You can argue that you have invested more money, but you have not fully compensated for the cost increases.
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