In a fire letter, the group sharply criticized the Prime Minister’s announcement that he would poach staff from other federal states – and accused him of cheating.
The poaching campaign for teachers from other federal states announced by Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) has been met with criticism from parents in Bavaria’s schools. “Up to now, you have had little more than disdain for the education of other federal states. In view of this, you should be ashamed, now, in an emergency, to fish for teachers in the once frowned upon Bavarian ‘abroad’,” says an open letter from the parents’ association BEV , who on Wednesday also published on the association’s website.
The letter goes on to say: “But you believe that you have a certain right to do so, with reference to Bavaria’s high contributions to the state financial equalization. We Bavarian parents are ashamed of that in your place.” Bavaria has received money from the financial equalization “for decades” and has only managed to develop from a poor agricultural country into a rich industrial location with solidarity from the north.
Söder recently announced at the retreat of the CSU state parliamentary group in Kloster Banz that he also wanted to counteract the domestic teacher shortage by pointing out the advantages of Bavaria in other federal states. This had also caused criticism in other federal states, since the states actually refrain from such poaching campaigns.
“Children’s educational success depends on their parents’ wallets. Should it now also depend on that of the federal state?” BEV country manager Martin Löwe continues in his fire letter to Söder. At the same time, he accused Söder of “cheating” on the facts about the particularly good pay in Bavaria. Apart from the announcement, no improvement in salary is in sight. “To make teaching in Bavaria sexy, you’re going to have to dig deeper into your pockets right now.”
Instead of poaching teachers from other countries, the state government should better use its “cleverly devised lures” such as relocation aids to persuade teachers within the Free State to move to the “expensive part of Bavaria”.