Mayor Sara Hernández has written to the Community of Madrid asking for clarification on how much of the 1.24 billion from the regional plan corresponds to Getafe, the timelines, and the requirements. The Plenary has approved an additional million in its own funds for works in schools.
The Getafe City Council has formally requested the Community of Madrid to clarify what portion of the 1.24 billion euros announced for the climate control, energy efficiency, and accessibility of public educational centres will reach the city. Mayor Sara Hernández has sent a letter to the regional president, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, to ascertain the amount or percentage allocated to public schools and institutes in Getafe, the timelines, access requirements, which administration will execute the works, and the order of priority for the interventions. This information is reported by getafecapital.com.
The City Council emphasises the change in criteria from the Community, as on 6 July, the Education Minister, Mercedes Zarzalejo, denied in a meeting with municipal representatives that the regional government had planned funding for these actions.
We are surprised to learn about this investment through the media, especially after the formal meeting on 6 July, where the Education Minister, Mercedes Zarzalejo, explicitly denied the availability of regional funding for school climate control to Getafe.
Hernández has acknowledged the Community's shift and warned that the City Council will demand the funds that correspond to its centres.
We welcome this change in criteria very positively, which is nothing more than accepting the obvious and what the Community of Madrid is legally obliged to provide. We will not give up a single cent of those 1.24 billion that belongs to Getafe's centres.
Meanwhile, the municipal Plenary on Wednesday, 23 September is debating a budget modification to add 1,000,000 euros from its own resources for the maintenance and thermal conditioning of schools and measures to reduce heat in playgrounds. The City Council states that in recent years it has already invested in the 37 schools, children's houses, and municipal nursery schools in the city, with shaded areas, tree plantings, water fountains, and window replacements to improve insulation. Among the mentioned actions are those at the Santiago Ramón y Cajal Special Education School, where shaded areas have been created in the sandpit and playgrounds.
The municipal government asserts that the climate control of classrooms falls under the regional administration, according to legal, technical, and economic reports it claims to possess, and offers the Community the collaboration of its technicians to identify the needs of each centre. For the system, the City Council proposes air source heat pumps and rules out widespread conventional air conditioning, as it could create temperature differences between classrooms and problems with maintenance and the accumulation of dust, bacteria, mites, or legionella.
Now we are going to increase by 1,000,000 euros, but it is necessary to take a further step and climate control all classrooms and spaces in schools and institutes, and that can only be done by the Community of Madrid as it is the competent administration.
The budget modification will be voted on in the Plenary this Wednesday. The letter sent to the Presidency of the Community is pending a detailed distribution of the 1.24 billion and the schedule for the works from the regional government.
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