The government announces its method for renovating schools, sparking criticism from mayors

The government clarified on Thursday September 14 the outlines of its school energy renovation plan, which targets 40.000 schools renovated by 2034, asking prefects to select priority projects, a method immediately described as "recentralizing" by the Association of mayors of France (AMF).

President Emmanuel Macron announced last week the release of an additional 500 million euros as part of the green fund to renovate more than 40.000 educational establishments within 10 years.

The Ministers of National Education, Gabriel Attal, and of Ecological Transition, Christophe Béchu, launched on Thursday a "national coordination committee" responsible for monitoring the progress of the program at the rate of "two meetings per year", while specifying on Thursday that these 500 million euros annually would be added from 2024 to the 2 billion euros of the green fund and would only be aimed at primary and nursery schools.

Of the "43.908 schools, we consider that we have at least 40.000 which are not up to standard, (...) which represents 50 million m2 and 50% of the built heritage of the municipalities", declared Christophe Béchu.

“We are going to prioritize (...) the most energy-intensive establishments but also those which are engaged in a process of self-assessment and educational innovation,” declared Gabriel Attal.

The ministers will write “in the coming days” to the prefects and academic directors so that they “identify the priority projects to support”.

The objective is to constitute by the end of 2023 the list of “around ten schools per department” which could be subject to renovations from the summer of 2024.

"While schools are typically a responsibility of the municipalities, the prefect will decide which school will be renovated or not, which is still quite incomprehensible", reacted during a press conference Christian Métairie, EELV mayor of Arcueil and member of the AMF.

“The State alone decides how we are going to organize the renovation of schools,” added Delphine Labail, PS mayor of Périgueux and also a member of the AMF, welcoming however the release of an envelope dedicated to schools.

“It’s a fear that is completely unfounded, it’s exactly the opposite,” replied Christophe Béchu, specifying that he had received 16.000 subsidy requests from local authorities.

Over the first eight months of 2023, 618 school renovation projects were supported by the State for an amount of 618 million euros.

Launched in May, the EduRénov program, supported by the Banque des Territories, is also aimed at middle and high schools and mobilizes 2 billion euros in loans for communities as well as 50 million euros in engineering loans.

Illustrative image of the article via Depositphotos.com.