SPD Leader Calls for Inequality-Reducing Tax and 100 Billion Euro Education Fund

Tax the rich more heavily in order to reduce educational equality: In an interview with Table.Media, SPD leader Saskia Esken explains why a special fund of 100 billion euros is now needed for education.

They are calling for a special fund of 100 billion euros for the German Education Pact. Where will the money come from?

We put forward the demand for a special fund in the spring together with civil society actors. We have now developed a model that we believe is viable: We want to tax very, very high incomes and very, very high inheritances and gifts more highly. We want to invest the additional revenue from these two tax reforms significantly in education in order to achieve greater educational equality.

What level of income and inheritance are you looking at here?

The income concerns those who currently pay the rich tax. For single people, this starts with taxable income of more than 270,000 euros. And when it comes to inheritances, we target those who inherit several million or billions of euros. We will pay attention to how to handle business assets. In any case, Grandma’s little house is not meant.

What arguments do you want to use to convince people of the idea of ​​an educational revolution and make them pay extra for it?

I am convinced that a large majority of the population agrees when it comes to giving all children a good future and investing what is necessary to achieve this. Especially in times of demographic change, successful education for everyone is life insurance for our economy. On the one hand, we have to mobilize more money, but we also have to bring all our forces together.

Focus on early education and final years

What does that mean?

For our educational breakthrough, we want to bring together all political levels, i.e. federal, state and local governments, all of which are involved in education.

Why do we need the 100 billion euros? What are the most important starting points?

These arise from the problems that we are currently seeing and that are reported to us by educational research: Children from poor households or from households in which German is not spoken well enough suffer massive disadvantages in the education system. As a result, 25 percent of children cannot read, write, listen and calculate adequately at the end of primary school. One in four children is actually not prepared to attend secondary school. As a result, 50,000 students leave school every year without a qualification.

What follows from this?

I see two main starting points: We need to focus particularly on the beginning so that students are not left behind in the first place. This starts before school: Every child should, if possible, attend a daycare center for four years so that targeted support, especially language support, can take place. In primary school we have to focus on the basic skills and specifically promote them where they are needed. And we must create the conditions so that all students achieve a qualifying school leaving certificate in order to be able to begin vocational training.

Special assets: ten billion instead of two billion for the starting opportunities program

What does the special fund mean specifically for the StartChances program and the digital pact?

The Start Chances program is a really good idea! But due to the limitations of the budget, we only reach ten percent of the schools. I am convinced that at least half of the schools need this special support. This means that the funding for the StartChances program needs to be increased fivefold. That’s ten billion euros per year instead of the two billion euros currently planned by the federal and state governments combined. That would be a correct approach. A special fund could also help to deal with the current renovation backlog of 50 billion euros in schools.

And what about the digital pact?

Equipping schools is fundamentally a responsibility of the states. However, the countries differ both in their social structure and in their financial performance, and the state financial equalization does not compensate for this by any means. With the Digital Pact, the federal government has recognized the urgency of ensuring equal living conditions in the interests of modern education. But the digital pact is not just about equipment. The states continue to have the task of ensuring that teachers receive appropriate training and further education so that they give students the tools they need to compete confidently in the digital world.

Special fund education can only be a beginning

Even if the money were there now, how can the 100 billion euros be used to overcome the biggest challenge facing schools, the shortage of teachers, in the short term?

With the German Education Pact, we want to agree on measures that enable fair and successful education for all children. This clearly also includes a joint skilled workers offensive. We must ensure more training and better training for educators, teachers and other educational staff.

There was already a quality offensive for teacher training. But it expires at the end of the year.

And it was very successful! The programs and models for better training developed with the support of the federal government should now be continued by the states. The skilled workers offensive is primarily about motivating more young people to become educators, teachers or social workers. To do this, we also have to improve working conditions and equalize pay between the federal states and between the types of schools – where this has not yet happened. Alignment between the federal states is important so that this poaching of teachers from one federal state to another stops.

What period of time is the special fund intended for?

A fair and successful education for all children – that is an ongoing task. We must permanently ensure that our education system compensates for the disadvantages of the parents’ home. The promise of advancement through education no longer works today. The fact that children from working-class families study is now an exception. It is not necessary for everyone to study, but we cannot accept that so many socially disadvantaged young people and so many from migrant families fall through the cracks in our education system. This is unfair and it also endangers all of our futures. Our strongest resource is our bright minds, and given demographic change, our economy cannot afford to be without any of them.

Scientifically accompany programs for the German Pact for Education

100 billion is a lot, but it can be gone quickly. How can we ensure that the money does not seep into the system? The main proposal also mentions evaluation.

As part of the German Education Pact, we want to develop clear agreements on concrete goals and mandatory measures so that the money is used specifically for educational equality. And of course it is important that we continually evaluate the effectiveness of our concepts in order to further develop them. That is why the programs must be scientifically supported. An important prerequisite is a better infrastructure for research data.

Isn’t data protection getting in the way?

I don’t see any problem with that. The General Data Protection Regulation stipulates that there must be a purpose for data to be collected and used. And if the state legally regulates that this data is needed to achieve more educational equality, then data protection is fulfilled.

KMK: “These are structures that are not very efficient”

Who should coordinate the German Education Pact? The lead proposal talks about a joint commission of the federal, state and local governments. That should be quite a large committee.

With 16 countries, it is nowhere near as confusing as with the EU with its 27 member states, and yet the EU is still capable of working – although it has many more issues. I think it is important that everyone involved is involved in an issue as important as educational equity. But of course such committees work on a division of labor into sub-projects and groups. This is also how it works at the Conference of Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs.

Who has just been certified as having done less than effective work. But why should there actually be a committee parallel to the KMK? Why not with her?

The KMK has a similar problem to the EU because it has to make its decisions unanimously. At the same time, the KMK’s decisions have little binding force. These are structures that are not very efficient. An example: In 1998, the KMK decided to make media competence mandatory in teacher training, and 20 years later not a single federal state had yet implemented this. We have to do this differently.

How?

We need federal and state agreements that are sufficiently binding, as is now the case with the Start Opportunity Program. This means that both sides are obliged, even beyond the legislative periods. The Starting Opportunities program, for example, is designed for ten years. We need that kind of reliability.

How the special assets will be distributed still needs to be clarified

Stronger cooperation between the federal, state and local governments has already been agreed in the coalition agreement. Why is there no corresponding committee yet?

Only the Minister of Education can answer that. However, I would very much like to see progress made here soon.

Will this working group still exist in this legislative period?

This is what is agreed in the coalition agreement. And it would be very desirable.

Back to the Commission for the German Education Pact. Should they also distribute the money from the special fund?

As with previous joint programs, a way must be found that takes parliaments’ budget rights into account and at the same time ensures the necessary commitment for the programs, even beyond the legislature.

Schools should be given more autonomy

Ultimately, the money should benefit the schools. Do schools need more autonomy in the use of resources?

This is already laid out in the starting opportunities program. The schools get their own budget. A certain degree of autonomy and ability to act is also necessary for them to develop well as an organization.

Are school leaders prepared for this role?

Daycare center and school management have an important role to play in the educational revolution. They must be enabled and encouraged to understand their facility as an organization and to continually develop it and its staff. They need the support, the guidance, but also the trust of the educational administration.

How optimistic are you that the SPD party conference will approve the key proposal for the German Education Pact?

The SPD was founded as a workers’ education association, so education as a basis for emancipation and participation for all people has always been very important to us. I am convinced that this educational proposal can inspire the federal party conference. And I can also imagine that the concept will find approval in the coalition. However, we will still have to do a lot of convincing on the financing issues. But I’m really keen on it.

By Annette Kuhn