Education: Agreement on key points for the starting opportunities program for schools

The implementation of the special support program planned by the traffic light government for schools in difficult situations is moving one step closer. According to the Federal Ministry of Education, after months of tough negotiations, the federal and state governments have agreed on “crucial key points” for the so-called Starting Opportunities Program.

Education Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger (FDP) and the President of the Conference of Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs, Katharina Günther-Wünsch (CDU), wanted to present the results in Berlin in the afternoon, according to an invitation to a press conference.

Based on the key points, the final details will be worked out over the next few weeks. “The starting opportunities program will then start as planned at the beginning of the 2024/2025 school year,” it continued.

The project is probably the traffic light’s most important educational policy project. Around 4,000 schools in the country – around one in four institutions – are to receive special support. It’s about schools “with a high proportion of socially disadvantaged students,” as it says in the traffic light coalition agreement. They should be supported directly with money, but also with additional social workers. Investments in a better learning environment are also planned. The program is designed to last ten years.

For a long time, the financing was particularly controversial. The federal government, which is actually not responsible for schools, had promised up to one billion euros per year and demanded that the states contribute the same amount.