Municipalities disagree with rises in teachers’ salaries

The Association of Slovak Municipalities (ZMOS) is against the rise in teachers' salaries by 6% in September this year, promised by the Education Ministry in 2016 after numerous strikes, wrote the SITA agency on Sunday. The reason for this stance, as the association's head Michal Sýkora said, is that municipalities lack €7.3 to €8 million in their budgets for the rise and even now have spent more money on the education system than they are committed to. According to Sýkora, in 2015, municipalities spent €226 million more on education than was their duty. However, ZMOS agrees with an increase in teachers' salaries as of January 2018. Last month, Education Minister Peter Plavčan said that he would submit a draft bill on the increase in teachers' salaries in May, thus enabling the promised 6% increase of teachers' salaries as of September. "When securing an increase in teachers' salaries, we perceive very sensitively all arguments from ZMOS and we believe that we will reach a mutually acceptable solution," stated the Education Ministry's press department as cited by the SITA press agency on Sunday.