Erfurt (dpa/th) – In the ongoing budget negotiations in Thuringia, the BSW is demanding the financial subsidy for parents to cover the costs of school lunches as agreed in the coalition agreement. “The introduction of the free lunch is an election promise of the BSW, which we will keep in the double budget 2026/2027,” said Dirk Hoffmeister, education policy spokesman for the BSW parliamentary group in the Thuringian state parliament.
13. Child benefit for parents
Accordingly, lunch for elementary and special school students up to fourth grade should be subsidized with one euro per portion. “The BSW is making 12.8 million euros available in the state budget for this,” said Hoffmeister. This results in savings of 240 euros per year for parents. “In this way, we are providing Thuringian parents with 13th child benefit.”
In its coalition agreement, the blackberry alliance made up of the CDU, SPD and BSW promised a “warm lunch for everyone”. In the summer, the CDU questioned the project because of tight financial leeway in the state budget. “If we don’t release funds elsewhere, we won’t be able to do everything. Then we have to set priorities,” said CDU parliamentary group leader Andreas Bühl in an interview with the Funke Medien Thuringia newspapers.
BSW calls for school building offensive
The BSW also wants to let schools benefit from more money elsewhere: “We want to clear the renovation backlog in Thuringian schools by 2030,” said the building policy spokesman for the BSW state parliamentary group, Roberto Kobelt. “We are calling for a school building offensive.”
Accordingly, the BSW wants to increase school construction funding by ten million euros in each of the next two years. The money should flow in addition to the loan-financed investment program already anchored in the draft budget. On the initiative of the BSW, as it is said, the blackberry coalition members had already agreed on one billion euros for the municipalities between 2026 and 2029. The funds should therefore be combinable with each other.
© dpa-infocom, dpa:251115-930-297718/1
