Hundreds of signatures did not help: the reform of schools was approved in the Jekabpils region 0 7

The regional council made the decision on February 26. It affects three secondary schools, two primary schools, as well as four locations for the implementation of programs from two other primary schools that once had schools.

The reform was accompanied by loud protests from local residents. At their initiative, the portal "Mana balss" collected 300 signatures in just a few hours in early March, necessary for submitting a collective statement, and by the beginning of this week, 1,356 voters from the Jekabpils region had signed against the council's decision. When the authors of the initiative submitted their statement to the council in early March, 962 signatures were recognized as valid after verification.

Last week, the regional council reviewed the collective statement but decided to reject the authors' call to postpone the reorganization of the school network. The chairman of the council, Raivis Ragainis, acknowledged that this is the most difficult decision that may have to be made in this term.

"However, our desires and opinions do not always align with what we must do. Looking to the future, we must do this," said Ragainis.

He explained that the new teacher salary funding model "Program in School" establishes new criteria: if a local government wants to maintain a school that does not meet them, it must provide co-financing for teachers' salaries. The state budget subsidy for teachers' salaries is only provided to those schools that meet the criteria - primarily, this is the established number of students in classes.

Experience from other municipalities shows that changing the status of an educational institution affects parents' choices - especially those who work in the center of the region and can provide their children with education in a larger school. In this case, younger siblings also attend these schools along with older children. This was pointed out by politicians from several municipalities who stated that they are unable to change the situation and also influence the regional policy of the state, which does not take into account the interests of rural residents.