Styria councils seek answers over music school funding cuts

Municipal representatives in Styria are due to meet the state councillor responsible for education on Monday over cuts to music school funding, ORF reported. Municipalities and music school operators say they were caught off guard by the changes.

The state plans to cut 3.3 million euros from music school funding. That is a relatively small share of the roughly 29 million euros it has paid each year to Styria’s 60 music schools.

The impact varies between municipalities. Some are set to receive substantially more under the current per-pupil funding system, while others could lose up to 350,000 euros per school year.

In 2018, the state replaced fixed grants to music schools with funding based on each school’s number of pupils. Schools in regions losing population, or those employing teachers on older fixed contracts, were given compensation payments to help them adjust to the new system. The payments were due to decline gradually until 2037, but the state now says the money is no longer available.

Music schools and representatives of the municipal and cities associations hope to find a solution in Monday afternoon’s meeting with State Councillor Stefan Hermann of the FPÖ.