Will education get extra funding or more budget cuts?

For the twelfth time, the Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis has put a price tag on the election promises made by political parties in their election manifestos. The ten participating parties were also asked to explain how they intend to pay for it all.

The government is currently planning to reduce spending on education by 1.1 billion euros. The centre-right party VVD, one of the parties in the current cabinet, is the only party that wants to reduce spending by another 400 million euros, according to the Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis in its publication Keuzes in Kaart. 

Other parties aim to reduce the gap, and some even would like to add some money on top. The other cabinet member, BBB (Farmer Citizen Movement), leaves 300 million euros worth of austerity measures untouched. The Christian parties CDA, SGP and ChristenUnie want to give a little bit more money to education, and the former cabinet member NSC is slightly more generous, allocating several hundred million euros to the sector.

‘This is not a voting guide or election compass,’ warned CPB Director Pieter Hasekamp. After all, the CPB sketches an economic picture, ‘and there is much more to it than economics.’

Reversing cuts
Centre-left party D66 is considering much higher amounts for education and research. Not only does the party want to reverse the budget cuts, but it also wants to spend an additional 5.1 billion euros on the sector. And that's not counting spending on healthcare innovation or through the business community.

The left-wing alliance GroenLinks-PvdA (comprised of Green Left & Labour Party) and the European-centred party Volt are also thinking along these lines: they propose to fill the gap left by the budget cuts and then allocate an additional three billion euros or so. 

As for the right-wing parties, JA21 (a split from the far-right party FvD) is confident in the usefulness of education and science, so much so that the party is reserving 1.9 billion euros for this purpose.

It is not always easy to see exactly how much money would go to universities and universities of applied sciences, especially if parties propose increasing the budget for all educational institutions, from primary school to university. However, some measures are clear. For example, VVD wants to cut 600 million euros from universities and universities of applied sciences in the form of a “delay contribution” for each student who takes longer than the usual time to graduate. Conversely, the party aims to reserve 200 million euros as a “short study bonus” for those who graduate on schedule.

ChristenUnie intends to allocate an additional 600 million euros to higher education and scientific research, while cutting back on the “master plan for basic skills” in primary and secondary education. The party believes that this master plan should only be necessary for weak schools. CDA is aiming for zero in higher education, and one cannot help but wonder how this will be achieved. On the one hand, the party wants to spend more money on the Research and Science Fund (300 million), but on the other hand, it would like to reduce the budget by the same amount. The Christian Democrats believe that fewer international students should come to the Netherlands and that “capacity funding” should be introduced in higher education. The latter apparently means fewer funded places at universities and universities of applied sciences.

Basic grant
Funding for the basic grant students receive also falls under education expenditure. D66 and GroenLinks-PvdA are reserving an additional 600 million euros for this purpose, while SGP wants to phase out the basic grant for children from wealthier families (which would yield a saving of 200 million euros). This money would then be used to increase the supplementary grant for students from lower-income families. Noteworthy: Volt promises to abolish the basic grant for students living with their parents and increase it for students living away from home. This would involve a shift of 500 million euros.

Human capital
More than before, the CPB is trying to look at the longer term. In the past, the organisation was criticised for not taking the long term sufficiently into account. Expenditure on education and the road network, for example, seemed like “wasted” money. That problem has not completely disappeared – after all, one doesn't know exactly what the returns are – but the report also attempts to address the development of “human capital” thanks to education, among other things. This is done with arrows pointing up and down. Only VVD is pointing down, while four parties are pointing up: GroenLinks-PvdA, D66, Volt and JA21.

The parties can also stimulate research and innovation through companies. One of the things they can do is offer tax breaks for research and development. Several parties propose to do this, sometimes in a very targeted manner. For instance, D66 would like to allocate more funds for healthcare research, while CDA would like to incentivise more research into small nuclear reactors. JA21, on the other hand, proposes to cut such spending.

NSC, D66 and Volt all intend to invest in a “learning budget” for workers, which they can use to acquire new knowledge later in life. CDA also has something similar in mind: it aims to establish “learning rights” for people over 50 with an MBO (vocational education) diploma.

Defence
In addition, all parties are allocating more money to defence. “It is likely that part of the additional funds will be spent on R&D and innovation,” notes the CPB, which universities and universities of applied sciences can benefit from. However, no amount has been attached to this purpose.

The CPB made its first calculation in 1986. Not all parties participate in this tradition. The far-right party PVV and the left-wing Party for the Animals are not interested. The Socialist Party has also refused to participate, just like it did last time.