The education expenditure in Bavaria in 2021 amounted to 10,500 euros per pupil – this puts the Free State clearly in first place among the non-city states. This emerges from a survey by the Federal Statistical Office for the year 2021, which was published on Friday. The expenses include personnel expenses for schools and administration, ongoing material costs and investments.
Across Germany, the average was 9200 euros. As the Federal Office announced according to preliminary results, that was around 500 euros or five percent more than in 2020.
According to the information provided by the Federal Office, even more money flowed into the general education schools at 11,500 euros per capita. The Hauptschulen benefited the most from this with 13,400 euros, followed by the Gymnasium with 12,600 euros and the Realschulen with 11,100 euros. The elementary schools, on the other hand, received only 9,100 euros. At the vocational schools, the sum per student was 7,000 euros.
Other non-city states such as North Rhine-Westphalia (EUR 8,300), Baden-Württemberg (EUR 8,800) and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (EUR 8,200) were well behind Bavaria. Only the two city states of Berlin (13,300 euros) and Hamburg (11,700 euros) had higher per capita expenditure. Bremen was also well behind Bavaria with 9600 euros.
“One thing is clear: excellent education costs money. We in the Free State will therefore increase the education budget again this year, by 2.7 percent compared to the previous year,” said Minister of Education Michael Piazolo (Free Voters). That is a total of almost 15 billion euros. The Free State uses the money to finance important milestones for the school of tomorrow, such as digitization or A13 as the starting salary for teachers at primary and secondary schools, according to Piazolo. In the coming year, 1,150 new teaching posts and another 50 posts for school social workers would also be added.