Parents in Brandenburg are fighting against school cuts – act now!

Parents in Brandenburg are fighting against school cuts – act now!

Things are boiling in Brandenburg! Today, June 16, 2025, the focus is on planned cuts in the education sector while the state parliament discusses the double budget for 2025/2026. Before the decisive vote, the parents went to the barricades and are increasing the pressure on the representatives and the state government. After all, it's about the future of our children and this is an important concern for parents. Ulrike Mauersberger, spokeswoman for the State Parents' Council, urgently appeals to members of the state parliament not to agree to the savings, as schools are already lacking in every corner.

Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke (SPD) sees himself as responsible and must urgently provide the necessary funds to ensure the quality of schools. In the next few days, the controversial budget draft will be discussed, which particularly provides for cuts in the areas of teaching positions and special education. There are also plans to increase the teaching requirement for teachers, which could possibly lead to partial transfers. Mauersberger criticizes the “disastrous situation” in schools and complains that there is a lack of information about the job cuts.

Protests and petitions

The parents' reactions are unmistakable: an online petition from the State Parents' Council has already collected almost 17,000 signatures. This is to be handed over to State Parliament President Ulrike Liedtke on Wednesday. The demand is clear: no cuts in funding, full-time operations and teachers. The author of the petition is a concerned mother of a primary school child at the “Am Pekenberg” primary school in Zülichendorf. She also criticizes the planned measures, which not only include the dismantling of special education support, but also provide for restrictions on shared lessons and language support for foreign-language children. Parents see these cuts as a massive attack on equal opportunities in the education system.

Parents agree: the pressure on schools must not increase any further. The proposed cuts would already overload teachers, meaning they would have to provide substitute teaching without additional resources. “We are not prepared to accept the deterioration in school conditions,” emphasizes Mauersberger.

The support of the CDU

The CDU parliamentary group shows solidarity with the parents' demands and criticizes the government's austerity plans as irresponsible. Education Minister Steffen Freiberg (SPD) admits that there could be cuts in the coming school year, but this depends on the budget decision. He defends the cuts and describes a teaching loss of 2.2 percent in the first half of 2024/2025 as “justifiable”. But from the perspective of parents and teachers, every day of teaching lost is too many.

The uncertain future of education in Brandenburg remains a hot topic as state parliament members vote in the coming days. Many are wondering: How will the government respond to parents' urgent appeals? The next few days are likely to be informative and set the course for education policy in the coming years.

For current information on educational topics and further developments in Brandenburg, it makes sense to access the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport. Because the future of our children and schools now depends crucially on the decisions of politicians.