Lower Austria completes biggest music school reform

Lower Austria has completed its largest music school reform in decades, reducing 113 music schools to 74 music schools and music school associations, ORF reported.

The reform has brought changes to the Music School Association Pielachtal-Sierningtal in the St. Pölten district. The association now includes 16 municipalities instead of eight.

Its director, Anna Thallauer, said the school had grown from 17 teachers to 55. The larger team brought different views and approaches, which she said could be beneficial for the organisation.

About 40 percent of the costs are covered by municipalities, which are already under considerable financial pressure. The reform is intended to reduce administrative costs through shared management and secretarial services.

Municipal Association President Hannes Pressl said the reform had been necessary because costs had risen sharply in recent years. He said the restructuring might initially increase payments for some municipalities, but should contain cost growth over the long term.

Arthur Rasch, the mayor and head of the newly established Pielachtal-Sierningtal Music School Association, said his municipality had not yet seen any financial relief. The municipalities would need to assess after a year whether their costs had changed, he said.

The mergers have also expanded the educational programme. Tamara Ofenauer-Haas, managing director of Music and Arts Schools Management, said students could now study visual arts, dance, film and media arts alongside music.

Some problems remain with the school administration software on which all the music schools depend. Those involved said the initial difficulties should be resolved quickly and that training and regular coordination were under way.

Music schools and municipalities are still mainly occupied with implementing the new structure. Financial relief is expected to emerge over the next one to two years. The decision to merge the schools on a large scale was made in 2023.