31 places are missing: Does Wels need an additional lower secondary school?

There has been quite an emotional discussion in recent weeks about whether Wels needs an additional lower secondary school. Numerous children were rejected when registering in February and March, even though they had met the performance requirements, according to the FPÖ in particular. In an interview with WT1, Mayor Andreas Rabl (FP) even spoke of “hundreds of children”, while Deputy Mayor Klaus Schinninger (SP) assumed fewer than forty.

A request from the Welser Zeitung to the Education Directorate now brings clarity, at least when it comes to numbers. This is what the situation looks like in the four lower secondary schools in Wels:

• In high school Schauerstrasse There were 122 registrations for the 1st class for the coming school year, all applicants were accepted – 20 places are still available.
• In high school Brucknerstrasse Of 183 applications, 38 were rejected, even though the children met the legal admission requirements.
• In the Wallererstrasse Of 148 applicants, 16 were not accepted even though they had met the requirements.
• In the Francis High School All 102 applicants who met the requirements were accepted. There are still three places available there.

Across all four schools, 54 students were rejected, even though they had met the performance criteria – “Good” or “Very Good” in the 4th grade of elementary school in the subjects of German and mathematics. However, there are still places for 23 of them at other schools.

So there are 31 children left who, based on their performance, should be able to go to high school without an entrance exam, but for whom there are not enough places. “That’s bitter, but it doesn’t justify a new high school,” says Deputy Mayor Klaus Schinninger (SP) – especially since a good portion of the children don’t come from Wels and can also switch to other school locations. “I can’t say whether an expansion would make sense – the high schools are a matter for the federal government,” says Schinninger.

Rabl: “Stick to your demands”

Mayor Andreas Rabl says he got different numbers from the school principals, but is sticking to the demand: “31 children are at least two classes with a class size of 25 students. With eight school levels, the school would have around 240 students.” Added to this is the population growth in Wels and the surrounding communities. “The new high school would need a good focus, for example in the area of ​​digitalization,” says Rabl. This would also free up capacity in the other high schools to accommodate students who move to Wels during the school year.

At the local council meeting two weeks ago, a resolution was passed to Education Minister Martin Polaschek with votes from the FPÖ, MFG and Neos. He is asked to ensure the construction of a new high school in Wels.

The SPÖ, ÖVP and the Greens abstained at the time. The reason was a paragraph in the resolution presented by FP parliamentary group leader Paul Hammerl, according to which many parents feared a “potential drop in their children’s standards” due to the high proportion of students with a migrant background – this meant middle schools. “As a party, we support high schools. But I can’t confirm that it would be that bad in middle schools. The teachers there do a good job,” says VP City Councilor Martin Oberndorfer.

Rabl emphasizes that the criticism does not apply to the MS teachers: “But they lack the resources. They don’t get enough resources to deal with the major challenges, especially when it comes to language skills.” High school therefore remains the only alternative option for many parents: “I don’t believe in denying that,” says Rabl.